Chairs:

Morgan Dennis (University of Nottingham, Veprintsev Lab, UK)

Tobias Benkel (ISAR Bioscience GmbH, Signal Transduction Lab, Germany)

Lectures:

Developing biosensor assays to study GPCR-G protein interactions  - Clare Harwood (University of Nottingham, UK)

A Brief History of Probing Arrestin Activation using Site-directed Fluorophore Labelling - Martha Sommer (ISAR Bioscience, Germany)

Development & application of conformational GPCR and heterotrimeric G protein biosensors - Hannes Schihada (Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany)

Session Details:

Our cells appear to be inherently dark and the inside remains indiscernible to the human eye. To this end, numerous investigations have led to the development of a plethora of biosensors that aim to give a glimpse into this astonishing little world. With this session, our panel of experienced scientists and young researchers will provide fundamental insights into the development of suitable sensors to enlighten various aspects of GPCR-mediated signal transduction.

Chairs:

Alessandro Nicoli (Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology at TUM, Germany)

Mona Reichel (Universitätsklinikum Jena, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Germany)

Lectures:

Modeling mechanisms of activation/modulation of GPCRs - Slawomir Filipek (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Exploring receptor function and cell signalling from a computational biology perspective - Maria Martí Solano (University of Cambridge, UK)

Searching for novel ligands using computer-aided methods - Magdalena Scharf (Karolinska Institute, Sweden)

Session Details:

How GPCRs recognize different ligands and selectively recognize signaling partners? Which are the molecular mechanisms that lead to GPCR activation? This session will cover computational techniques for studying GPCR structure, modulation and signaling.

Chairs:

Jiafei Mao (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Biocentre N202, Germany)

Tobias Benkel (ISAR Bioscience GmbH, Signal Transduction Lab, Germany)

Lectures:

Dissecting the spatiotemporal organization of GPCR signalling with single molecule and other advanced microscopy approaches - Davide Calebiro (University of Birmingham, Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, UK)

Microscopy-based tools to investigate GPCR regulatory mechanisms at the plasma membrane - Silvia Sposini (Imperial College London, UK / Université de Bordeaux, France) and Abigail Walker (Imperial College London, Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, UK)

Practical steps to set up a large scale deep learning image analysis pipeline for microscopy image analysis - Tõnis Laasfeld (University of Tartu), Estland

Session Details:

What are the spatiotemporal determinants of GPCRs and their signaling events in living cells? This session will cover the state-of-the-art microscopy techniques and data analysis methods for answering these questions. A full range of technical aspects, from imaging methods to data analysis, will be demonstrated with recent exciting discoveries in GPCR physiology and pharmacology. 

Chairs:

Mona Reichel (Universitätsklinikum Jena, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Germany)

Alessandro Nicoli (Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology at TUM, Germany)

Lectures:

Targeting a classical and atypical chemokine receptor in cancer using a multidisciplinary approach

Martine Smit (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Integrated approaches to study class B1 GPCRs 

Patrick Sexton (Monash University, Australia)

Novel applications of phosphosite-specific GPCR antibodies 

Stefan Schulz (Jena University Hospital, 7TM Antibodies GmbH, Germany)

Session Details:

During this second translational session, we will explore how different methods can be integrated.

The first lecture will focus on the ONCORNET 2.0 consortium as an example of how collaboration can bring together diverse approaches and techniques in GPCR research. Research within this consortium aims to understand the role of GPCRs in cancer development and progression, and to develop targeted therapies for cancer treatment. 

The second lecture will showcase how the implementation of different methods can help us better understand various aspects of a particular receptor class.

It will be followed by an example of cooperation between industry and academic research.

Chairs:

Tobias Benkel (ISAR Bioscience GmbH, Signal Transduction Lab, Germany)

Alessandro Nicoli (Leibniz-Institute for Food Systems Biology at TUM, Germany)

Lectures:

Milka Vrecl (University of Ljubljana, Slowenia)

Martin Lohse (ISAR Bioscience, Germany)

Jens Meiler (University of Leipzig, Germany / Vanderbilt University, USA)

Session Details:

Running a research laboratory, no matter if in academia or industry, requires a certain amount of resources. Acquiring proper funding is integral to pursuing a scientific career, and can be a challenge that a number of researchers are confronted with. 

This session aims to provide insight into different funding modalities, ranging from the European and the American academic funding scheme to the special requirements for funding of SMEs.