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Recent advances in structural biology of membrane proteins – Course and Conference Office

EMBO Workshop

Recent advances in structural biology of membrane proteins

Overview

EMBL is committed to sharing research advances and sustaining scientific interaction throughout the coronavirus pandemic. We are delighted to announce that the conference is going virtual and invite you to join us online. The virtual conference includes live talks from invited speakers, short talk presenters, digital poster sessions and networking opportunities.

Conference Overview

Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) are encoded by 20-30 % of genes in a genome and provide key functions in the cell. Due to their hydrophobic nature, they are structurally and biochemically difficult to study. Traditionally, IMPs have been extracted using detergents which are a poor mimic of the lipid membrane and have been shown to denature membrane proteins. However, newly developed lipid-nanodisc approaches enable structural and functional studies of IMPs in a detergent-free, near-native membrane environment. Therefore, a central theme of this workshop is highlighting the importance of lipids in MP research and how they can be preserved.

Various experimental and computational tools, including novel expression and stabilisation strategies, have been developed to overcome the challenges posed by a variety of MPs. These technologies have delivered spectacular insights into membrane-protein structure, dynamics and function within the last few years. This conference will bring together researchers developing and applying these new methodologies. In addition to providing a forum to exchange the latest developments in the field, the conference provides excellent opportunities for early-career scientist in the field to learn all aspects of a variety of tools to study the structure and function of membrane proteins.

Session Topics

  • New mimetics for MP research
  • Expression and purification of MPs
  • Biophysics of lipid bilayers
  • X-ray methods for structural research of MPs
  • Binding proteins for structural and functional MP research
  • Advances in cryo-EM for small MPs
  • Cryo-EM and cryo-tomography on large MP complexes
  • Mass spectrometry and single-molecule FRET on MPs
  • Computational methods to probe structure and dynamics of MPs

Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Speakers

Tamir Gonen

Tamir Gonen

University of California, Los Angeles

USA

Scientific Organisers

Conference Organisers

Maria Mercedes Bacadare Goitia

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Nathalie Sneider

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Programme

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  • The virtual conference includes live-streamed invited speakers and short talk presenters with Q&A sessions after each talk, as well as meet the speaker sessions. 
  • All digital poster presenters are encouraged to upload a recorded flash talk or narration with their digital poster and to schedule video calls during poster session times.
  • Information on the live stream and access to the discussion platform and digital posters will be provided shortly before the start of the event.
  • Access to the recorded talks will be available for 2 weeks after the start of the event.

All times in the programme below are shown as the time in Europe/Berlin.

To find out the equivalent time zone in your location, enter Berlin, the programme time and date along with your city into the Time Zone Converter.

Day 1 – Monday 29 November 2021
TimeSpeaker
11:00 – 11:15 Opening remarks
Virtual Session 1:
New mimetics for MP research
Chair: Sandro Keller – University of Graz, Austria
11:15 – 11:45Pendant-bearing Detergents for Membrane Protein Structural Study
Pil Seok Chae – Hanyang University, South Korea 
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
11:45 – 12:00Incorporation of SMALPs into Giant Unilamellar Vesicles by using droplet microfluidics
Jorik Waeterschoot – KU Leuven, Belgium
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
12:00 – 12:30CyclAPols: a novel generation of amphipols combining solubilizing and stabilizing properties required for membrane protein studies
Manuela Zoonens – French National Centre
for Scientific Research, France
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
12:30 – 12:35Transition over to Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 1
12:35 – 12:55Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 1: Pil Seok Chae, Jorik Waeterschoot and Manuela Zoonens
12:55 – 13:35Lunch Break
13:35 – 14:45Virtual Poster Session 1 (A – L)
14:45 – 14:50Break
 Virtual Session 2:
Expression and purification of MPs
Chair: Markus Seeger – University of Zurich, Switzerland
14:50 – 15:20Advanced methods for high-level (membrane) protein production in mammalian cells
Jonathan Elegheert – French National Centre
for Scientific Research, France
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:20 – 15:35Expression and purification of P4-ATPase lipid flippases for functional and structural studies
Guillaume Lenoir – Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC) – University Paris-Saclay, France
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:35 – 16:05Cell-free expression of membrane proteins for structure & function
Frank Bernhard – University of Frankfurt, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
16:05 – 16:50Keynote Speaker:
Revealing the Structure and Function of Membrane Proteins
Stephen Sligar – University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
16:50 – 17:05Break
  Virtual Session 3:
Biophysics of lipid bilayers
Chair: Kristyna Pluhackova – University of Stuttgart, Germany
17:05 – 17:35Using polymer-stabilised nanodiscs to determine membrane protein structure and function
Karen Edler – University of Bath, United Kingdom
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
17:35 – 17:50Evidence for a ‘trap-and-flip’ mechanism in a proton-dependent lipid transporter
Camilo Perez – University of Basel, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
17:50 – 18:20Membrane asymmetry: Why membrane proteins
might bother
Georg Pabst – University of Graz, Austria
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:20 – 18:25Transition over to Meet the speakers
from Virtual Session 2 and 3 
18:25 – 18:45Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 2 and 3: Jonathan Elegheert, Guillaume Lenoir, Frank Bernhard, Stephen Sligar, Karen Edler, Camilo Perez and Georg Pabst
18:45 – 19:15Social programme: Virtual Bar Mixer
19:15 End Day 1 

Digital posters and pre-recorded talks as well as discussion channels will be available for registered participants throughout the whole virtual meeting.

Day 2 – Tuesday 30 November 2021
Time Speaker
13:00 – 13:45 Social programme: Virtual Speed Networking
 Virtual Session 4:
X-ray methods for structural research of MPs
Chair: Thomas Schneider – EMBL Hamburg, Germany
14:00 – 14:30Femtosecond-to-Millisecond Structural Biology at SLS and SwissFEL
Jörg Standfuss – Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM  
14:30 – 14:45Insights into glycine reuptake inhibition from the crystal structure of human GlyT1 as determined by serial synchrotron crystallography
Azadeh Shahsavar – Aarhus University, Denmark
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM  
14:45 – 15:00Structural interrogation of transferred outer membrane protein of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus
Rebecca Parr – University of Birmingham, UK
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM  
15:00 – 15:15Break
 Virtual Session 5:
Binding proteins for structural and functional MP research
Chair: Christian Löw – EMBL Hamburg, Germany
15:15 – 15:45Conformational trapping of membrane protein with sybodies
Markus Seeger – University of Zurich, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:45 – 16:00Development of a universal nanobody-binding Fab module for fiducial-assisted cryo-EM studies of membrane proteins
Joël Bloch – ETH Zurich, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM  
16:00 – 16:30N-terminal transmembrane-helix epitope tag for x-ray crystallography and electron microscopy of small membrane proteins
Randy Stockbridge – University of Michigan, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
16:30 – 16:35Transition over to Meet the speakers from
Virtual Session 4 and 5 
16:35 – 16:55Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 4 and 5: Jörg Standfuss, Azadeh Shahsavar, Rebecca Parr, Markus Seeger, Joël Bloch and Randy Stockbridge
16:55 – 18:05Virtual Poster Session 2 (M – Z)
18:05 – 18:10Break
Virtual Session 6:
Advances in cryo-EM for small MPs I
Chair: Jörg Standfuss – Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
18:10 – 18:55Keynote Speaker:
The role of protein dynamics in G protein coupled receptor activation
Brian Kobilka – Stanford University, USA
18:55 – 19:25MicroED: conception, practice and future opportunities
Tamir Gonen –  University of California, Los Angeles, USA
19:25 – 19:40Insights into the bilayer-mediated toppling mechanism of a folate-specific ECF transporter by cryo-EM
Chancievan Thangaratnarajah – University of Groningen, The Netherlands
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
19:40 – 19:55Structural snapshots of human PepT1 and PepT2 reveal mechanistic insights into substrate and drug transport across epithelial membranes
Maxime Killer – EMBL Hamburg, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
19:55 – 20:25Monitoring lipids in Cryo-EM structures
of membrane transporter and channels
Christine Ziegler – University of Regensburg, Germany 
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
20:25 – 20:35Break
 Virtual Session 7:
Advances in cryo-EM for small MPs II
Chair: Cristina Paulino – University of Groningen, The Netherlands
20:35 – 21:05A simple alternating access mechanism in urea/amide channels revealed by high-resolution cryo-EM
Jiansen Jiang – National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
21:05 – 21:20 Activation of the melanocortin 4 receptor – a path to anti-obesity drugs
Nicolas Heyder – Charité Berlin, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
21:20 – 21:25Transition over to Meet the speakers from
Virtual Session 6 and 7 
21:25 – 21:45Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 6 and 7: Brian Kobilka, Tamir Gonen, Chancievan Thangaratnarajah, Maxime Killer, Christine Ziegler, Jiansen Jiang and Nicolas Heyder
21:45 – 22:15Social programme: Living Room Concert with Lazy Fur
22:15End Day 2

Digital posters and pre-recorded talks as well as discussion channels will be available for registered participants throughout the whole virtual meeting.

Day 3 – Wednesday 1 December 2021
TimeSpeaker
 Virtual Session 8:
Cryo-EM and cryo-tomography on large MP complexes
Chair: Panagiotis L. Kastritis – Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
14:00 – 14:30 cryo-CLEM of clathrin coated pits in intact cells
Ori Avinoam – Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel 
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
14:30 – 14:45Small molecule modulation of the Drosophila Slo channel elucidated by cryo-EM
Tobias Raisch – Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Germany
14:45 – 15:00Membrane protein phase separation in organelle assembly and membrane fusion
Alexander von Appen – Max Planck Society, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:00 – 15:15Break
 Virtual Session 9:
Mass spectrometry and single-molecule FRET on MPs
Chair: Christine Ziegler – University of Regensburg, Germany
15:15 – 15:45Structural dynamics of membrane-protein folding from single-molecule FRET
Georg Krainer – University of Cambridge, UK
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:45 – 16:00Liposomes as carriers of membrane-associated proteins and peptides for mass spectrometry analysis
Melissa Frick – Interdisciplinary Research Center HALOmem, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
16:00 – 16:15Conformational coupling across the membrane bilayer of full-length Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor in nanodiscs
Shwetha Srinivasan – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
16:45 – 16:50Transition over to Meet the speakers from
Virtual Session 8 and 9 
16:50 – 17:10Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 8 and 9: Ori Avinoam, Tobias Raisch, Alexander von Appen, Georg Krainer, Melissa Frick and Shwetha Srinivasan
17:10 – 17:40Break
Virtual Session 10:
Computational methods to probe structure and dynamics of MPs
Chair: Georg Krainer – University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
 17:40 – 18:10Multiscaling molecular dynamics simulation of complex biomembranes
Kristyna Pluhackova – University of Stuttgart, Germany 
18:10 – 18:25A near-complete structural model of the human nuclear pore complex scaffold
Agnieszka Obarska-Kosinska – Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:25 – 18:55Molecular ensembles and free energy landscapes of membranes and proteins
Jochen Hub – Saarland University, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:55 – 19:00Transition over to Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 10
19:00 – 19:20Meet the speakers from Virtual Session 10: Kristyna Pluhackova, Agnieszka Obarska-Kosinska and Jochen Hub
19:20 – 19:25Transition over to Panel discussion
19:25 – 20:10Panel discussion: Current challenges and future direction of structural biology of membrane proteins
Chairs:
Sandro Keller – University of Graz, Austria
Cristina Paulino – University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Panellist:
– Ori Avinoam – Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
– Agnieszka Obarska-Kosinska – Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Germany
– Camilo Perez – University of Basel, Switzerland
– Kristyna Pluhackova – University of Stuttgart, Germany
– Randy Stockbridge – University of Michigan, USA
20:10 – 20:20Closing remarks
20:20End Day 3

Digital posters and pre-recorded talks as well as discussion channels will be available for registered participants throughout the whole virtual meeting.

Practical Information

Registration Fees and Abstract Submission

Registration Fees (include access to all of the talks, digital poster sessions and online group discussions, and help us cover our costs to run the event. For further information please refer to the FAQ page):

Academia190 Euro
PhD Student140 Euro
Industry240 Euro
EMBL StaffIntranet access

Accredited journalists may be eligible to register for a complimentary registration. Registrants may be required to provide accreditation or equivalent proof of press membership after registration. Please contact Nathalie Sneider for more information.

Confirmation and Payment

Registration will be on a first-come first-served basis. Your place can only be confirmed after payment of the registration fee.
Types of payments accepted are international bank transfers and credit card payments.

Abstract submission

Only registered participants are eligible to submit an abstract. We only accept online abstract submissions.

After you have logged in and successfully registered, you will receive an email asking you to submit your abstract.  Click on the link provided and enter your abstract in the text box provided. Alternatively you can submit your abstract by clicking on the link on the confirmation page directly after registering.

When submitting your abstract you can also apply for an oral or poster presentation. A selection process will take place with the results announced 2-3 weeks after the abstract submission deadline.

Financial Assistance

Financial Assistance

Registration Fee Waivers

All academic and student registrants are invited to apply for a registration fee waiver, provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO. The registration fee waiver covers the registration sum that you have paid to attend the meeting. Conference participants are not required to pre-pay the registration fee to be selected for a fee waiver for a virtual meeting. If you have already paid the registration fee and are awarded a fee waiver, it will be reimbursed after the meeting. Course participants are required to pay the course fee in advance, which will then be reimbursed after the recipient has attended the course.

Childcare Grants

For participants and speakers with childcare responsibilities there is the possibility to apply for a grant, provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO, to offset childcare costs incurred when participating at a virtual event. Eligible costs include fees for a babysitter or childcare facility or travel costs for a care giver. Please note that priority will be given to early stage researchers. Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts have been received. In order to apply for this grant, you must be registered by the abstract submission deadline.

Application

Applications for financial assistance can be submitted via the submission portal* (for the submission of abstracts for conferences or the submission of motivation letters for courses) by completing the Financial Assistance Application Section (underneath the section for entering abstract/motivation letter information). The link to the portal can be found in the registration confirmation email that you will receive after registering for the conference or course.

For conferences, if you are not submitting an abstract, you can still apply for financial assistance in the submission portal. Read the instructions on how to apply for financial assistance.

Note that priority will be given to those submitting an abstract to present at the conference. In your application you will be asked to answer questions regarding your motivation for applying, and, for registration fee waivers, the reasons why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.

*For some events, applications for Childcare Grants will still be done by email. Information about the grant will be sent out shortly after the abstract/motivation letter deadline. Please contact the event Conference Officer if you have any questions.

Selection

The scientific organisers will select the recipients of registration fee waivers during the abstract selection process for conferences and the participant selection process for courses. Results will be announced approximately 3 – 4 weeks before the event start date. Selection results do not impact your admission to the meeting. Registration fee waiver selection is based on your current work or study location, your motivation for applying, the reasons for needing financial support and the impact this event will have on your career. Childcare grants are allocated based on career stage, with priority given to early stage researchers.

Further details

Check out this list of external funding opportunities or get more information on attending the conference as an event reporter.

For further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.

Virtual Participation Guidelines

Guidelines

Please do:

  • Use the event-specific hashtag as communicated during the event for any related tweets
  • Tweet unless the speaker specifically says otherwise
  • Be mindful of unpublished data
  • Be respectful in tone and content

Please don’t:

  • Share your login details to the virtual conference platform with others
  • Broadcast the conference to unregistered participants
  • Capture, transmit or redistribute data presented at the meeting unless presenter gives explicit consent
  • Use offensive language in your posts
  • Engage in rudeness or personal attacks

Additional information can be found in our Code of Conduct.

Health and well-being

It is important to stay healthy and move around, especially when you are attending an event virtually. We have put together a few coffee break stretches and yoga videos in the events Slack workspace for you to enjoy during the event.

How to ask questions

Questions during and after the talks can be asked in live streaming platform. The chair moderates the questions and shares them with the speaker. If time runs out or you think of a question later, you can use Slack to ask your questions in the dedicated session channels or via direct message.

Time zone

The programme is planned based on Central European Summer Time (CEST), unless otherwise stated. As many virtual participants are attending from around the world, we do our best to accomodate as many timezones as possible when creating the programme. Please take your time zone into consideration when planning your attendance.

Virtual event platforms

We are using a virtual event platform for this conference. More information about the platform will be shared ahead of the conference.

Sponsors

Media Partners

EMBO reports, an EMBO Press journal

International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Open Biology, a Royal Society journal

Sponsorship Opportunities

We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other conferences, or contact sponsoring@embl.de for further information.

If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage.

Warning

EMBL wishes to warn sponsors of EMBL conferences and courses of fraudulent schemes purporting to offer sponsorship opportunities on behalf of EMBL or affiliated with EMBL officials. One current scam campaign of which we are aware is conducted using the name ‘Judy Eastman’ (judy@gopcontact.a2hosted.com) and entails approaches to sponsors offering sponsorship opportunities on EMBL’s behalf. Please be kindly advised that all relevant communication regarding sponsorship of EMBL conferences, symposia and courses is handled by EMBL directly and is sent from an official EMBL account. EMBL does not work with any external providers on sponsorship acquisition.

Please also note that:

  • EMBL never provides attendee lists for purchase. Any offers of such are fraudulent.
  • EMBL will never call or email you to ask for your credit card details or to request a payment.
  • All payments are on invoice.

Suspicious communications purportedly from, for or on behalf of EMBL should be reported to EMBL at the following email address sponsoring@embl.de.

Date: 29 Nov - 1 Dec 2021

Location: Virtual


Deadline(s):

Abstract submission: Closed

Registration: Closed


Organisers:

  • Panagiotis Kastritis
    Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg , Germany
    • Sandro Keller
      University of Graz, Austria

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