Program Overview
(Regular talks: 20 minutes + 5 minutes discussion/ Short talks: 15 minutes + 5 minutes discussion)
Day 0: Sunday, September 7
15:00 - 17:30 Registration
17:30 - 19:30 Welcome Reception including Short Educational Lecture
Robin Lovell-Badge (The Crick): "SRY and SOX history"
Andrew Sinclair (MCRI): “World Athletics’ mandatory SRY gene test for women athletes is not supported by the science”
Day 1: Monday, September 8, 2025
Session 1: The Evolution, Structure, and Regulation of SOX (08:45-12:05)
Chairs: Masami Kanai-Azuma and Kin-Ming Kwan
08:45 - 09:10 Michael Weiss: SRY structure and function
09:10 - 09:35 Yawen Bai: Structural insights into the recognition of the LIN28B nucleosome by SOX2
09:35 - 10:00 Steve Russell: SoxB redundancy in insects
10:00 - 10:25 Ralf Jauch: Structural and functional conservation of Sox and partners from unicellular protists, jellyfish, and mice
Coffee Break
10:50 - 11:15 Mark A. Magnuson: Proximal and distal cis-regulatory elements in Sox17 regulate hepato-pancreato-biliary development
11:15-12:40 Steven Pollard: Targeting the core neurodevelopmental identity driving glioblastoma
11:40 - 12:05 Päivi Ojala: Oncogenic virus hijacks a novel pioneer function of SOX18 to enhance viral persistence
Lunch Break
Session 2: SOX in Stem Cells (14:00-18:15)
Chairs: Aixa V. Morales and Mathias Francois
14:00-14:25 Abdenour Soufi: To bend or not to bend: How Sox2 binds and reshapes chromatin during reprogramming and pluripotency maintenance
14:25 - 14:50 Prasanna Kolatkar: SOX9 knockout in hESC-derived pancreatic beta cells leads to disrupted but intact beta cells
14:50 - 15:15 Mathias Francois: How the SOX2 temporal regulatory layer coordinates with Nanog transcription burst
15:15 - 15:40 Hiroshi Ochiai: Spatiotemporal mapping of SOX2-rich transcription hubs couples enhancer–promoter mechanics to transcriptional bursting in pluripotent stem cells
Coffee Break
16:10 - 16:35 Aixa V. Morales: SOX5 controls the establishment of quiescence in neural stem cells during postnatal development
16:35 - 17:00 Yusuke Kamachi: Tagging strategy for functional analysis of Sox transcription factors in zebrafish
17:25 - 17:50 Nike Walther: Automated live-cell single-molecule tracking reveals distinct Sox9 single-molecule dynamics in adult differentiation and fetal-like reprogrammed states in intestinal organoid models
17:50-18:15 Sanjeev Kumar: SOX9 switch links regeneration to fibrosis at the single-cell level in mammalian kidneys
18:30 - 20:30 Poster Session 1
Day 2: Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Session 3: Neural Development (08:45-12:30)
Chairs: Michael Wegner and Monica Beltrame
08:45 - 09:10 Silvia Nicolis: Targeting the SOX2-orchestrated 3D gene regulatory network to provide novel understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders
09:10 - 09:35 Martin Cheung: Determination of trunk neural crest cell fate and susceptibility to splicing perturbation by the DLC1-SF3B1-PHF5A splicing complex
09:35 - 10:00 Michael Wegner: Impact of SOX10 and SOX8 on myelination during development and remyelination in the adult
10:00 - 10:25 Sara Mercurio: Dissection of the SOX2 gene regulatory network in the developing visual thalamus
Coffee Break
10:50 - 11:15 Kathryn Cheah: SOX control of sensory and non-sensory cell fate in the otic vesicle defines development of the inner ear
11:15 – 11:40 Kin-Ming Kwan: Essential role of SOX9 in blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier development and function
11:40 - 12:05 Joerg Heineke: Endothelial SOX9 promotes fibrosis and organ dysfunction
12:05 - 12:30 Hisato Kondoh: Cell dynamics analysis of chicken embryo epiblasts: Tracing neuromesodermal progenitors via Sox2 enhancer activities
Photo Shoot / Lunch Break
Session 4: SOX in Sex Determination and Germ Cells (14:30-17:25)
Chairs: Ralf Jauch and Yoshiakira Kanai
14:30 - 14:55 Robin Lovell-Badge: The regulation of SOX9 during gonad development
14:55 - 15:20 Shuji Takada: Towards understanding the molecular mechanisms of SOX9 distal enhancer functions in mouse sex determination
15:20 - 15:45 Katie Ayers: SOX genes and human variations of sex development
Coffee Break
16:10 - 16:35 Makoto Tachibana: Epigenetic regulation of mouse male sex determination
16:35 - 17:00 Xiaoyang Zhao: SOX and JNK-JUN control the human germline specification
17:00 - 17:25 Naoko Irie: Switching between SOX2 and SOX17 in human pluripotency and germline development
Special Lecture (17:25 - 18:00) Chair: Kenichi Kashimada
Katsuhiko Hayashi: " From Reconstruction to Insight: Exploring Germ Cell Development In Vitro"
Day 3: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Session 5: SOX in Disease, Tissue Homeostasis and Repair (08:45-12:05)
Chairs: Hiroshi Asahara and Kathy Cheah
08:45 - 09:10 Christopher James Rhodes: SOX17 variants drive pulmonary hypertension identifying it as a drug target
09:10 - 09:35 Joyce Bischoff: A SOX18-mevalonate pathway axis in vascular anomalies
09:35 – 10:00 Jun-Bean Park: Role of SOX17 in pulmonary hypertension
10:00 - 10:25 Injune Kim: SOX17 contributes to endothelial resilience from vascular pathologies
10:25 - 10:50 Yongping Shao: Context-dependent roles of SOX10 during MAPKi resistance development in BRAF-mutant melanoma
Coffee Break
11:15 - 11:40 Véronique Lefebvre: Toward elucidating and overcoming SOX5 haploinsufficiency in Lamb-Shaffer syndrome
11:40 - 12:05 Lukas Sommer: Tumor-associated glia: Key drivers of skin tumor formation
12:05 - 17:00 Excursion (Komoro Local Sightseeing / Cultural Experience)
17:30 - 19:30 Gala Dinner
19:30 - 21:30 Poster Session 2
Day 4: Thursday, September 11, 2025
Session 6: Early Development & Differentiation (09:00-10:35)
Chairs: Véronique Lefebvre and Martin Cheung
9:00 - 9:25 Rio Sugimura: Human hypoblasts contribute to erythropoiesis prior to gastrulation
9:25 - 9:50 Monica Beltrame: A zebrafish view on SoxF regulatory networks in vascular and lymphatic development
09:50 - 10:15 Andrew Nelson: The molecular basis for functional divergence of duplicated SOX factors controlling endoderm formation and left-right patterning in zebrafish
10:15 - 10:35 Rie Saba: SOX17-expressing cells in the mesodermal wing contribute to the endocardium and vascular endothelium during mouse embryogenesis (short talk)
Coffee Break
Research Spotlight of Young Rising Stars: SOX in cell fate control (11:05-12:05)
Chairs: Silvia Nicolis and Andrew Sinclair
11:05 - 11:25 Aya Uchida: Deciphering early-stage placental defects of somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos through trophoblast stem cell model (short talk)
11:25 – 11:45 Ayaka Yanagida: Species-specific implantation orientation directed by ICM–TE interaction in human blastoids and interspecies chimeras (short talk)
11:45 - 12:05 Masayasu Sega: Sox Genes as Potential Targets of Hox Genes (short talk)
12:05 - 12:35 Closing and Awards Ceremony (Peter Koopman / Uni QLD)
Poster session Chair: Kenta Yashiro
Odd number; Poster session 1 (Day 1: September 8, 18:30-20:30)
Even number; Poster session 2 (Day 3: September 10, 19:30-21:30)
1. Shujun Han: SOX10-LZTS1-CD8+ T cell axis drives immune evasion in melanoma
2. Naoki Hirono: Repressive role of SOX2 loses the trophectoderm competency in mouse inner cell mass.
3. Haoqing Hu: Resetting stem and somatic cells toward a state with enhanced potential with engineered SOX
4. Takahide Matsushima: Therapeutic effects of a novel Sox9-upregulating compound in osteoarthritic cartilage
5. Jennika Bates: Exploring genotype-phenotype correlations in sox10 mutations in the Zebrafish
6. Shiori Kumazawa: Implantation failure and homeostasis in Sox17 heterozygous mice
7. Boseop Kim: Sox17 Contributes to Endothelial Resilience Against Vascular Pathologies
8. Junko Sasaki: Role of PIP3 metabolism in sex differentiation and ovarian granulosa cell function
9. Shogo Matoba: Quantitative dissection of sexual dimorphism in mice through Y-linked gene knockouts and multivariate phenotyping
10. Tomoki Chiba: Post-transcriptional regulation of inflammatory gene expression by an RNA-binding protein in osteoarthritis chondrocytes
11. Kenichi Kashimada: Foxl2 deleted reprogramming model from ovary to testes revealed trans-differentiation-specific Sertoli-like cells
12. Yuki Yoshimoto: Spatiotemporal regulation of Sox9 expression is required for proper musculoskeletal integration
13. Zongguan Huang: LINC00518 transcription is critical for SOX10 functions in melanoma
14. Yutaro Uchida: Enhancer candidates of SOX families causing osteoarthritis
15. Shihan Zeng: A distal promoter region specifically regulates Sox17 expression during gallbladder development
16. Hironobu Oiki: Dynamics of SOX17⁺/ SOX9⁺/ LGR5⁺ epithelial progenitors in gallbladder walls of human biliary atresia revealed by spatial transcriptomics
17. Ying Li: SOX10-mediated regulation of the miR-106a/363 cluster drives RAF inhibitor resistance in BRAF-mutant melanoma
18. Hiroo Sasaki: Mechanisms of human embryo implantation using human blastoids
19. Giorgia Pozzolini: Targeting the SOX2-orchestrated 3D gene regulatory network to provide novel understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders
20. Kana Hayakawa: Cell replacement in Sox17-positive endometrial epithelium
21. Jens Nicolai Decker: Can Disorder Be Precise? Single-Molecule Insights into Sox2-Mediated DNA Bending
22. Ryuji Hiramatsu: SOX17⁺ rete structures in the ovotesticular ovary of the Japanese mole