Tight Junctions: from Structure and Development to Therapeutics Leysin, Switzerland, 4th-8th June 2023

Overview

Tight junctions (TJs) are a hallmark of vertebrate epithelial and endothelial tissues, where they play essential canonical and non-canonical functions, such as tissue barrier and cellular signaling, which can be altered in disease. Recent exciting advances driven by new technologies in imaging, structural biology, biophysics and animal models have allowed us to begin to understand structure-function relationships in TJs, from tissue morphogenesis to the design of new therapeutic approaches. This meeting will bring together TJ scientists from around the world to foster the exchange of information, generate new ideas and collaborations, and expand the community of TJ researchers. By sharing complementary expertise and state-of-the art approaches we will deepen our mechanistic understanding TJ biology and its involvement in physiology and pathology.

Topics

Format

All conference components, such as the scientific programme, poster exhibition, and social events, are planned as live events. A virtual participation is currently not foreseen.

Speakers

picture of Maria Balda

Maria Balda

University College
UK
picture of Klaus Ebnet

Klaus Ebnet

University of Münster
Germany
picture of Elif Eroglu

Elif Eroglu

Karolinska Institute
Sweden
picture of Michael Fromm

Michael Fromm

Charité-Universitätsmedizin
Germany
picture of Mikio Furuse

Mikio Furuse

NIPS
Japan
picture of Lorenza Gonzalez-Mariscal

Lorenza Gonzalez-Mariscal

CINVESTAV
Mexico
picture of Dorothee Günzel

Dorothee Günzel

Charité-Universitätsmedizin
Germany
picture of Susan J. Hagen

Susan J. Hagen

Harvard Medical School
USA
picture of Carl Phillip Heisenberg

Carl Phillip Heisenberg

Institute of Science and Technology
Austria
picture of Alf Honigmann

Alf Honigmann

TU Dresden
Germany
picture of Junichi Ikenouchi

Junichi Ikenouchi

Kyushu University
Japan
picture of Michael Koval

Michael Koval

Emory University
USA
picture of Susanne Krug

Susanne Krug

Charité-Universitätsmedizin
Germany
picture of Martin Lehmann

Martin Lehmann

Leibniz Institut of Molecular Pharmacology
Germany
picture of Rocio Lopez-Posadas

Rocio Lopez-Posadas

University of Erlangen
Germany
picture of Luca Maragliano

Luca Maragliano

Università Politecnica delle Marche
Italy
picture of Karl Matter

Karl Matter

University College
UK
picture of Ann Miller

Ann Miller

University of Michigan
USA
picture of Shikha Nangia

Shikha Nangia

Syracuse University
USA
picture of Asma Nusrat

Asma Nusrat

University of Michigan Medical School
USA
picture of Jörg Piontek

Jörg Piontek

Charité-Universitätsmedizin
Germany
picture of Jody Rosenblatt

Jody Rosenblatt

King's College, UK
UK
picture of Jörg Schulzke

Jörg Schulzke

Charité-Universitätsmedizin
Germany
picture of Sachiko Tsukita

Sachiko Tsukita

Teikyo University
Japan
picture of Jerrold Turner

Jerrold Turner

Harvard Medical School
USA
picture of Alan Yu

Alan Yu

Kansas University Medical Center
USA

Final Program

Sunday 4th, June
Session 1: Welcome and Keynote Lecture 1
14:00 - 19:00 Check-in and registration
18:00 - 20:00 Welcome Reception and Dinner
20:00 - 20:10 Welcome by organizers:
Sandra Citi, University of Geneva, Switzerland,
Eric Feraille, University of Geneva, Switzerland,
Michael Koval, Emory University, USA.
20:10 - 21:00
Keynote Lecture 1
Asma Nusrat (University of Michigan, USA)
Plasticity of the mucosal barrier: Insights into regulation of epithelial tight junctions
Monday 5th, June
07:00 - 08:30 Breakfast
Session 2: Structure and Architecture of Tight Junction Proteins
Chair Mikio Furuse (National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan)
08:30 - 09:00 Martin Lehmann (Leibniz Institut of Molecular Pharmacology, Germany)
Tight & Leaky – What we can learn from molecular nanostructures at Tight Junctions?
09:00 - 09:30 Shikha Nangia (Syracuse University, USA)
Computational nanoscopy of the tight junction architecture
09:30 - 09:50 Speaker selected from Abstracts
09:50 - 10:05 Speaker selected from Abstracts
10:05 - 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 - 11:00 Jörg Piontek (Charité Universtätsmedizin Berlin Clinical Physiology, Germany)
Formation of the claudin backbone of tight junction strands including paracellular channels
11:00 - 11:30 Luca Maragliano (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy)
Structural modeling of claudin assemblies at the tight junctions
11:30 - 11:50 Speaker selected from Abstracts
11:50 - 12:10 Speaker selected from Abstracts
12:10 - 14:00 Lunch
Session 3: Cell Biology of Tight Junctions
Chair Jerrold Turner (Harvard Medical School, USA)
14:00 - 14:30 Mikio Furuse (National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan)
Regulation of bicellular tight junctions by angulin-1
14:30 - 15:00 Klaus Ebnet (Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Germany)
JAM-A: A Multifunctional Adhesion Receptor at Tight Junctions
15:00 - 15:30 Karl Matter (University College, UK)
Signalling by tight junctions in epithelial morphogenesis
15:30 - 15:45 Speaker selected from Abstracts
15:45 - 16:15 Coffee break
16:15 - 16:45 Jody Rosenblatt (King’s College, UK)
Cell extrusion: an exciting beginning to an end
16:45 - 17:05 Speaker selected from Abstracts
17:05 - 17:20 Speaker selected from Abstracts
17:20 - 17:45 Break
17:45 - 19:30 Poster session 1
19:30 - 21:00 Dinner
Tuesday 6th, June
07:00 - 08:30 Breakfast
Session 4: Tight Junctions in Physiology
Chair Jörg Schulzke (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
08:30 - 09:00 Alan Yu (University of Kansas Medical Center, USA)
Claudin-2 and renal calcium handling
09:00 - 09:30 Dorothée Günzel (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
Role of Claudin-10 Splice Variants in Paracellular Transport in Kidney and Underlying HELIX
09:30 - 09:50 Speaker selected from Abstracts
09:50 - 10:05 Speaker selected from Abstracts
10:05 - 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 - 11:00 Susan J. Hagen (Harvard Medical School, USA)
Tight Junction Claudin18 in Health and Disease
11:00 - 11:30 Roland Bücker (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
Similarities of Tricellular Tight Junction Defects in Colonocytes during Diarrheal Situations
11:30 - 11:50 Speaker selected from Abstracts
11:50 - 12:05 Speaker selected from Abstracts
12:05 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 18:00 Excursion
Session 5: Keynote Lecture 2
18:00 - 18:50
Keynote Lecture 2
Jerrold Turner (Harvard Medical School, USA)
Claudin-2: More than a channel?
19:00 - 20:30 Dinner
Wednesday 7th, June
07:00 - 08:30 Breakfast
Session 6: Tight Junctions: Pathology, Mechanisms and Therapeutics
Chair Susan J. Hagen (Harvard Medical School, USA)
08:30 - 09:00 Michael Koval (Emory University, USA)
Impact of alcohol use disorder on lung epithelial barrier function
09:00 - 09:30 Susanne Krug (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
Role of MarvelD3 in colitis
09:30 - 09:50 Speaker selected from Abstracts
09:50 - 10:05 Speaker selected from Abstracts
10:05 - 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 - 11:00 Michael Fromm (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
Pathways of water in epithelia
11:00 - 11:30 Alf Honigmann (Technische University, Germany)
Role of ZO condensation and actin polymerization to form a functional tight junction belt
11:30 - 11:50 Speaker selected from Abstracts
11:50 - 12:05 Speaker selected from Abstracts
12:05 - 14:00 Lunch
Session 7: Tight Junctions in Development and Signaling
Chair Jody Rosenblatt (King’s College, UK)
14:00 - 14:30 Carl-Phillip Heisenberg (Institute of Science and Technology, Austria)
The role of tight junctions in zebrafish epiboly movements
14:30 - 15:00 Elif Eroglu (Karolinska Institute, Sweden)
Role of tight junctions in the regenerating salamander heart
15:00 - 15:30 Ann Miller (University of Michigan, USA)
Rho flare-mediated remodeling of tight junctions in developing epithelium
15:30 - 15:45 Speaker selected from Abstracts
15:45 - 16:15 Coffee break
16:15 - 16:45 Lorenza Gonzalez-Mariscal (CINVESTAV, Mexico)
Polyubiquitination and SUMOylation sites modulate ZO-2 stability and tight junction sealing
16:45 - 17:15 Junichi Ikenouchi (Kyushu University, Japan)
Roles of membrane lipids in tight junction formation
17:15 - 17:45 Break
17:45 - 19:00 Poster session 2
19:00 - 20:30 Dinner
Thursday 8th, June
07:00 - 08:30 Breakfast
Session 8: Keynote 3; Tight junctions and the cytoskeleton
Chair Sandra Citi (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
08:30 - 09:20
Keynote Lecture 3
Sachiko Tsukita (Teikyo University, Japan)
Tight Junctions and Its Associating Apical Cytoskeleton Define the Epithelial Barrier
09:20 - 09:50 Rocio Lopez-Posadas (University of Erlangen, Germany)
Targeting prenylated Rho GTPases for epithelial restoration in gastrointestinal diseases
09:50 - 09:55 Speaker selected from Abstracts
09:55 - 10:20 Coffee break
10:20 - 10:35 Speaker selected from Abstracts
10:35 - 11:05 Maria Balda (University College London, UK)
Tight junction-associated Rho GEFs in retinal function and disease
11:05 - 11:30 Award of Poster Prizes
11:30 - 12:00 Concluding remarks
12:00 - Departure

Venue

Photography of Leysin

Leysin

Hotel Alpine Classic
Route de la Cité 4, 1854 Leysin,
Switzerland

Practical information and pandemic restrictions

As of May 2023, the WHO has determined that COVID-19 no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. There are no restrictions for accessing the event, facilities and venue, there is no mask requirement at the event or at public spaces, including transport, and there is no test or quarantine requirement for entering Switzerland.

Check here (https://travelcheck.admin.ch/home) for possible conditions applying for your country or (find up-to-date details about entering Switzerland ).

You are responsible for applying for a visa for entry into Switzerland should it be necessary based on your nationality.

Practical information on how to reach the hotel from Geneva Airport by public transportation and train schedules are in the downloadable PDF documents.

Practical_info_TJ2023.pdf
TRAIN_SCHEDULES_TJMEETING2023.pdf

Sponsors of the meeting

Registration

REGISTRATION FOR THE MEETING IS CLOSED

Contact

Agnès Lakhoua
Email: tightjunctions2023@unige.ch