Developmental biology has undergone a revolution over the last two decades, largely as a result of work in Drosophila, that placed biomechanical, quantitative imaging, and mathematical modeling approaches at the forefront of the study of tissue morphogenesis. In particular, the establishment of tools to measure and manipulate mechanical forces in living organisms has demonstrated that mechanical forces profoundly shape animal development. In this workshop, we will review the most recent technical advances to visualize and quantify force generation in Drosophila, and we will discuss the latest results demonstrating the interplay between physical forces, molecular dynamics and tissue morphogenesis.

Speakers/Agenda

10:00 am Daria Siekhaus, IST Austria, Macrophages push back against surrounding tissue resistance: a cortical actin shell buffers macrophage nuclei while enabling their infiltration.

10:20 am Richa Rikhy, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Role of BAR domain proteins in actin villi remodeling in syncytial Drosophila embryos.

10:40 am Romain Levayer, Institut Pasteur, Collective effects in epithelial cell elimination : from cell competition to tissue homeostasis.

11:00 am Tim Saunders, University of Warwick, Dissecting the mechanical processes building the initial heart vessel in Drosophila.

11:20 am Mary Baylies, Sloan-Kettering Institute, The Domino effect: actin regulation at the sarcomere and its impact on different levels of muscle organization and function.

11:40 am Ulli Tepass, University of Toronto, Cell polarity and contractility during neural stem cell ingression in the fly embryo.

Short Talks (7-8 minutes each, 45 minutes total) 

1:00 PM               Organizers, Welcome and introductory remarks 

1:05 PM               Afshan Ismat, University of St. Thomas, Positioning yourself to get a job at a PUI 

1:13 PM               Aracely Newton, Missouri Western State University, Interviewing and working at a PUI 

1:21 PM               Patrick Ferree, Keck Science Dept./The Claremont Colleges, Funding research at a PUI 

1:29 PM               Mariano Loza-Coll, California State University, Northridge, Mentoring students in research 

1:37 PM               Jacob Kagey, University of Detroit-Mercy, Best practices in teaching/CURES 

Breakout Groups: (3 x 25 minutes, 75 minutes total) 

1:45 PM               Session 1 

2:10 PM               Session 2 

2:35 PM               Session 3 

3:00 PM               End 

Group 1:  Prospective PUI faculty (Afshan Ismat) 

Group 2:  Working at a PUI: Challenges and Opportunities (Aracely Newton) 

Group 3:  Grant writing, funding research (Patrick Ferree) 

Group 4:  Mentoring students in research (Mariano Loza-Coll) 

Group 5:  Teaching innovations and CUREs (Jacob Kagey) 

1:30 pm Kim Rewitz, University of Copenhagen, Dietary cholesterol and sugar influence growth and maturation through insulin signaling.

2:05 pm Lianna Wat, University of British Columbia, Sex-specific regulation of the adipokinetic hormone pathway contributes to the male-female difference in fat storage.

2:30 pm Saumya Jain, UCLA, Orchestration of neuronal circuit formation by hormones.

2:55 pm Open Discussion

3:15 pm Mubarak Hussain Syed, University of New Mexico, Temporal hormonal cues regulate neural diversity and function of Drosophila Central Complex lineages.

3:40 pm Matthew Meiselman, Cornell University, Allatostatin-C mediates recovery from reproductive dormancy in Drosophila melanogaster.

4:05 pm Lacy Barton, New York University, Highs and lows: responsive regulation of Juvenile Hormones.

Cell Biology and Growth

Justin Bosch

Govind Kunduri

Cell Stress and Cell Death

Marianthi Kiparaki
Chaitali Khan

Evolution, Immunity, and the Microbiome

Junhui Peng

Junctions and Epithelial Dynamics

Aparna Sherlekar Banerjee

Reproduction and Gametogenesis

Offer Gerlitz

Applying to Graduate School and Postdoc Positions

Thomas Ravenscroft

How to get a job at a PUI

Rebecca Spokony

M. Logan Johnson

Professional Development and Careers in Science

Cale Whitworth

7:45 PM Opening Remarks 

First Hour

Amanda Larracuente, University of Rochester, Rapid structural divergence of Drosophila Y chromosomes.

Dawn Chen, Cornell University, Octopaminergic/tyraminergic Tdc2 neurons regulate biased sperm usage in female Drosophila melanogaster. 

Marianne Mercer, UT Southwestern, bourbon interacts with known germline sex determination regulator otu and promotes the expression of sxl in the Drosophila female germline. 

Ben Vincent, University of Pittsburgh, Reorganizations in the apical extracellular matrix underlie morphological diversification in Drosophila genital structures. 

Julia Duckhorn, Villanova University, Regulation of sexually dimorphic abdominal courtship behaviors in Drosophila by the Tlx/tailless-like nuclear receptor, Dissatisfaction. 

Jason Millington, Stanford, A low sugar diet enhances Drosophila body size in males and females via sex-specific mechanisms. 

Second Hour

Sreesankar Easwaran, UC Santa Barbara, Diapause - Can we “pause” and “play” reproductive development? 

Iván Mendez, University of Pittsburgh, Male-specific transcriptional silencers contribute to the regulatory evolution of a pigmentation gene in Drosophilids. 

Ben Hopkins, UC Davis, The dynamic evolution of the Sex Peptide gene family. 

Joseph Louis Aguilera, Brown University, X marks the spot: Specifically targeting an active chromatin domain to the X-chromosome. 

Ella Preger-Ben Noon, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, The evolution of morphology at a single-cell resolution. 

9:37 PM Trivia and Prizes 

In every organism, communication between organs is necessary to coordinate cellular processes in order to maintain homeostasis or combat stress. Thus, complex biological processes such as development, morphogenesis, neurogenesis, as well as the regulation of immunity and physiology, all depend on the success of communication between organs. Alterations in organ cross-talk therefore often leads to disease. Interorgan communication is based on a network of peptides, proteins, and metabolites that act between organs. Drosophila has been pivotal to construct underlying interorgan communication networks thanks to the implementation of sophisticated genetics and genomics techniques as well as cutting edge biochemical approaches such as targeted and not-targeted metabolomics, peptidomics, and lipid tracking. In this workshop, we will focus on recent work that has begun to “translate and decode” interorgan communication. Most importantly, we will also focus on the cutting edge biochemical techniques, that in combination with spatio-temporally controlled “organ-sensing” RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 genetic screens are helping define organ communication networks that underly complex biological processes.

Speakers’ list

7:45 pm Mrs. Emily Strachan, Imperial College London, “Food, sex and tumours”.

8:00 pm Dr. Mahi Rahman, Huntsman Cancer Institute University of Utha, “ISC and tracheal interaction in the Drosophila midgut”.

8:15 pm Dr. Daniel Promislow, University of Washington, “A Metabolomic Perspective on Genetic Variation and Aging”.

8:30 pm Dr. Yang Lyu, University of Michigan, “Neurometabolomic approach to identify aging mechanisms in response to environmental challenges”.

8:45 pm Dr. Madhulika Rai, INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTONIndiana University, “Lactate and glycerol-3-phosphate metabolism cooperatively regulate larval growth in a tissue nonautonomous manner”.

9:00 pm Dr. Lesley Weaver, Indiana University, “Regulation of oogenesis by inter-organ communication”.

9:15 pm Dr. Kim Rewitz, IT University of Copenhagen, “Gut-derived NPF regulates selective feeding decisions through inter-organ crosstalk to maintain nutrient homeostasis”

9:30 pm Dr. Matthew Sieber, UTSouthwestern Medical Center, “More than Medelian: Metabolites function as heritable factors that drive progeny reprogramming”

Flies on drugs –drug discovery approaches, challenges and opportunities

1. Clement Chow, University of Utah - “Lessons from personalized drug screens for Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation”

2. Tin Tin Su, University of Colorado – “An inhibitor of translation elongation identified in a Drosophila screen shows efficacy in human cancer models”

3. Udai Pandey, University of Pittsburgh – “Identifying therapeutic targets for a rare neurodevelopmental syndrome”

4. Tirtha Das, Mount Sinai School of Medicine – “Screens, Drugs and Flies to Explore Disease Signaling Networks”

5. Daniela C Zarnescu, University of Arizona – “Phenotypic screens in Drosophila models of ALS/FTD based on TDP-43 proteinopathy”

Discussion

Models of Human Disease

Sudershana Nair

Neural Circuits and Behavior

Caroline Fabre

Vanlalrinchhani Varte

Neural Development and Physiology

Chaitali Khan

Yali Zhang

Physiology, Metabolism, and Aging

Rodrigo Dutra Nunes

Stem Cells, Regeneration, and Tissue Injury

Fani Papagiannouli

Disability in Science

Stefan Cerbin

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Aditi Sharma Singh

LGBTQ+ in Science

Sayantan Datta

Kristin Latham-Scott

Parents in Science

Helene Knævelsrud

Bree Grillo-Hill