Schedule

Thursday August 11

6:30 pm – 9:12 pm – Session 1

Session chairs: Max Heiman (Harvard Medical School) and Jessica Feldman (Stanford University)

6:30 pm – 6:40 pm – Welcome

6:40 pm – 7:05 pm – “Niche regulation of primordial germ cells in the embryonic gonad.” Jeremy Nance, New York University School of Medicine.

7:05 pm – 7:23 pm – “Active Mechanisms Prevent Ectopic Condensation of FG Nucleoporins in the Cytoplasm.” Laura Thomas, Basma Taleb, Peter Askjaer, Geraldine Seydoux. HHMI / Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology (CABD), Seville, Spain.

7:23 pm – 7:41 pm – “Asymmetric BAR-1/-catenin expression regulates neuron position during C. elegans ventral nerve cord assembly.” Wesley Chan, Justin Evans, Tony Roenspies, Elicia Preston, John Murray, Antonio Colavita. Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

7:41 pm – 8:00 pm – Break

8:00 pm – 8:18 pm – “CED-3/caspase and opposing kinesins direct mitochondrial confinement to govern Compartmentalized Cell Elimination.” Rashna Sharmin, Sara P. Carmona, Ginger Clark, Karen Juanez, Aladin Elkhalil, Mark W. Pellegrino, Shai Shaham, Piya Ghose. The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, United States, The Rockefeller University, New York City, United States.

** 8:18 pm – 8:36 pm – “Constructing Alae: How the Worm Gets its Racing Stripes.” Trevor Barker, Meera Sundaram. University of Pennsylvania SOM Dept. of Genetics, Philadelphia, United States of America.

8:36 pm – 8:54 pm – “Endocytosis in the axon initial segment maintains neuronal polarity.” Kelsie Eichel, Caitlin Taylor, Kang Shen. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, USA.

8:54 pm – 9:12 pm – “The chromokinesin Klp-19 regulates microtubule number and overlap in the midzone throughout mitosis in C. elegans.” Vitaly Zimyanin, Magdalena Magaj, Che-Hang Yu, Daniel Needleman, Stefanie Redemann. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA, University of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States, Harvard University, Harvard, United States.

9:15 pm – 11:00 pm – Mixer

Friday August 12

9:00 am – 11:30 am – Session 2

Session chair: Paul Goetsch (Michigan Technical University)

9:00 am – 9:25 am – “Achieving proper force balance in the spindle during oocyte meiosis.” Sadie Wignall. Northwestern University.

9:25 am – 9:43 am – “Understanding how actomyosin dynamics drive apical constriction.” Pu Zhang, Bob Goldstein. Biology Department and Cell Biology and Physiology Curriculum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States.

9:43 am – 10:01 am – “A sex-specific switch in glial gene expression patterns the apical extracellular matrix.” Wendy Fung, Taralyn M. Tan, Irina Kolotuev, Maxwell G. Heiman. Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, United States, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

10:01 am – 10:19 am – “Kinesin-II Motors Differentially Impact Biogenesis of Distinct Extracellular Vesicle Subpopulations Shed from C. elegans Sensory Cilia.” Michael Clupper, Malek Elsayyid, Rachael Gill, Denis Touroutine, Jeffrey Caplan, Jessica Tanis. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, United States.

10:19 am – 10:35 am – Break

10:35 am – 10:53 am – “Analyzing the spatiotemporal structure of heterochronic miRNA transcription using microfluidics based long term live-imaging.” Shubham Sahu, Kelly Hills-Muckey, Christopher M. Hammell, Wolfgang Keil. Laboratoire Physico Chimie Curie, Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR168, Paris, France, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Developmental Genetics, Cold Spring Harbor, USA.

10:53 am – 11:11 am – “Loss of sensory dendrite cilia is detected by surrounding glia via neuron/glia protein pair DGS-1/ FIG-1.” Katherine C Varandas, Lauren Lubeck, Amelia Farinas, Yupu Liang, Yun Lu, Shai Shaham. The Rockefeller University, Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, New York, USA,2Stanford University, Graduate Program in Biology, Stanford, USA, Stanford University, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Stanford, USA, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Knowledge Systems Group, Boston, USA.

11:11 am – 11:29 am – “DAF-18 prevents oocyte wastage through activating calcium signaling and contractility in the distal spermatheca.” Jichao Deng, Vincent Roy, Olivier Gagné, Pier-Olivier Martel, Martin Simard, Patrick Narbonne. Département de Biologie Médicale, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada, Département de Biologie Moléculaire, de Biochimie Médicale et de Pathologie, CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research Center, Trois-Rivieres, Canada.

11:30 am – 1:00 pm – Lunch

1:00 pm – 1:55 pm – Featured Workshop: Education and Outreach

Workshop chair: Sarah Olson (Pomona College)

1:00 pm – 1:25 pm – “CUREs that integrate undergrad research throughout a biology curriculum increase STEM equity.” Teresa Lee. University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

** 1:25 pm – 1:35 pm – “Characterization of a potential gene interaction between chromatin modifiers spr-5, met-2, and mep-1 in determining germline versus soma in C. elegans.“ Sindy Chavez, Jovan Brockett, Brandon Carpenter, Onur Birol, Karen Schmeichel, David Katz. Emory University, Atlanta, United States.

** 1:35 pm – 1:45 pm – “Epithelial polarity requires WAVE-dependent transport of E-Cadherin/HMR-1.” Luigy Cordova Burgos, Deepti Rao, Joshua Egwuonwu, Martha Soto. Rutgers – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, U.S.

** 1:45 pm – 1:55 pm – “A fluorescent toolkit for studying organelle biology in vivo reveals a distinct mitochondrial subclass lacking mtDNA.” Jackie Lanzalotto, Jessica Leslie, Nitin Vidyasagar, Samantha Lewis. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.

1:55 pm – 2:10 pm – Break

2:10 pm – 3:25 pm – Featured Workshop: Single-Molecule Approaches

Workshop chair: Benjamin Weaver (UT Southwestern Medical Center)

2:10 pm – 2:35 pm – “Watching signaling protein search dynamics in live nuclei.” Lexy von Diezmann. University of Utah. Note: new lab at University of Minnesota starting 2023!

2:35 pm – 3:00 pm – “Improved and emerging methods to image single mRNA molecules.” Erin Osborne Nishimura. Colorado State University.

3:00 pm – 3:25 pm – “Single-molecule dissection of PAR polarity, in vivo and ex vivo.” Dan Dickinson. University of Texas, Austin.

3:25 pm – 4:00 pm – Break

4:00 pm – 6:30 pm – Session 3

Session chair: Brian Hiester (Luther College)

4:00 pm – 4:25 pm – “Apical ECM dynamics throughout the molt cycle.” Meera Sundaram. University of Pennsylvania.

4:25 pm – 4:43 pm – “Polyploidy is Essential for High rates of Biosynthesis in the C. elegans Intestine.” Alex Lessenger, Jessica L Feldman. Stanford University, Stanford, United States.

4:43 pm – 5:01 pm – “A central role for cofilin in maintaining cortical actin cytoskeleton network integrity through filament turnover.” Rachel Kadzik, Younan Li, Jon Michaux, David R Kovar, Edwin M Munro. Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA.

5:01 pm – 5:20 pm – Break

5:20 pm – 5:38 pm – “SPE-13 is a sperm-specific small transmembrane protein required for fertilization in C. elegans.” Yamei Zuo, Amber Krauchunas, Tim Kroft, Andrew Singson. Rutgers University, Piscataway, USA, University of Delaware, Newark, USA, Auburn University at Montgomery, Montgomery, USA.

** 5:38 pm – 5:56 pm – “Identification of direct insulin-signaling transcriptional targets in muscle cells.” Shifei Wu, Wesley Hung, Charline Roy, Yan Li, Ying Wang, Ben Mulcahy, Jean-Louis Bessereau, John Calarco, Mei Zhen. Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS UMR 5284, INSERM U 1314, Institut NeuroMyoGène, Lyon, France, Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

5:56 pm – 6:14 pm – “SYD-2 Acts through AP Complexes to Regulate Cell Body Retention and Polarized Trafficking of a LRK-1 dependent Synaptic Vesicle-Lysosomal Intermediate Compartment.” Sravanthi Nadiminti, Shirley Dixit, Padmapriya Boyanapalli, Sandhya Koushika. Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India.

6:14 pm – 6:24 pm Lightning Talks:

1. “Development across evolutionary time at a single-cell resolution in the Caenorhabditis nematode embryo.” Christopher Large, Rupa Khanal, Priya Sivaramakrishnan, Felicia Peng, Qin Zhu, Erik Nordgren, Jean Rosario, Junhyong Kim, John I. Murray. Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States.
2. “Integrated system for automated surveillance of C. elegans brood size and major motor programs.” Patrick Narbonne, Matthieu Valet. Medical Biology Department, Université du Québec à Trois-rivières.
3. “Screening bacterial isolates for potential therapeutics: a CURE approach.” Emily Washeleski, Christian Holmstrom, Paul Goetsch. Michigan Technological University, Houghton, United States.
4. “Defining characteristics and conservation of poorly annotated genes in Caenorhabditis elegans using WormCat 2.0.” Daniel Higgins, Dominique Lui, Amy Walker. UMass Medical School, Worcester, 01605.
5. “Immobilization of C. elegans on cultivation plates by thermoelectric cooling for high-throughput submicron-resolution imaging.” Yao Wang, Erik Jaklitsch, Noa Grooms, Leilani Schulting, Samuel Chung. Northeastern University, Boston, United States.

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Dinner

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Poster Session and Dessert

Saturday August 13

9:00 am – 11:24 am Session 4

Session Chair: Amy Walker (UMass Medical School)

9:00 am – 9:25 am – “Rabs, motors, and ABC transporters promote the asymmetric localization of organelles within embryonic intestinal cells.” Greg Hermann. Lewis and Clark College.

9:25 am – 9:43 am – “Rapid rates of transcription in the early C. elegans embryo.” Priya Sivaramakrishnan, Cameron Watkins, John Isaac Murray. Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

9:43 am – 10:01 am – “Cluster assistance factors ERH and SAFB2 globally inhibit miRNA biogenesis in the C. elegans embryo.” Bing Yang, Karl-Frederic Vieux, Yini Li, Rima Sakhawala, Nasser Rusan, Katherine McJunkin. National Institutes of Health, NIDDK, Bethesda, United States, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Pathology , Baltimore, United States, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Biology, Baltimore, United States, National Institutes of Health, NHLBI, Bethesda, United States.

10:01 am – 10:20 am – Break

10:20 am – 10:38 am – “TOM-1/Tomosyn acts with the UNC-6/Netrin receptor UNC-5 to inhibit VD growth cone protrusion during outgrowth.” Snehal Mahadik, Erik A. Lundquist. The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66046 USA.

10:38 am – 10:56 am – “Cyclin B isoforms coordinate mitotic entry and exit events to ensure the normal pace of embryonic divisions.” Pablo Lara Gonzalez, Smriti Variyar, Jacqueline Budrewicz, Aleesa Schlientz, Jack Houston, Karen Oegema, Arshad Desai. Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University Of California Irvine, Irvine, United States, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, La Jolla, United States, Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, United States, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, United States.

10:56 am – 11:14 am – “CED-12/ELMO/ELMOD can switch from promoting to inhibiting F-actin formation in the same tissue.” Thejasvi Venkatachalam, Luigy Cordova Burgos, Martha Soto. Rutgers – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, U.S.

11:14 am – 11:24 am – Lightning Talks

1. “DREAM interrupted: Establishing a CRISPR/Cas9 functional genomics pipeline in Caenorhabditis elegans.” Spencer Snider, Emily Washeleski, Christian Holmstrom, Alex Richards, Megan Guyer, Amanda Bekkala, Jillian Kuizenga, Paul Goetsch. Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA.
2. “Tracking protein stability in Caenorhabditis elegans.” Christopher Borchers, Kara Osburn Osburn, Hyun Cheol Roh, Scott T. Aoki. Indiana University School of Medicine.
3. “Single molecule conformations of the C. elegans X-chromosome during the process of dosage compensation.” Aude Andriollo, Ahilya Sawh, Silvia Gutnik, Susan Mango. Biozentrum University of Basel.
4. “WormAtlas: New Chapters, New Data, New Worms.” Nathan Schroeder, Laura A. Herndon, Catherine A. Wolkow, Zeynep Altun, David H. Hall. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
5. “Using AlphaFold2 and CRISPR to characterize a cytoskeletal complex required for neuron maturation.” Matthew Rich, Erik Jorgensen. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA.

11:30 am – 2:00 pm – Lunch and Free Time

2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Poster Session

4:00 pm – 6:24 pm – Session 5

Session Chair: Brandon Carpenter (Kennesaw State University)

4:00 pm – 4:25 pm – “Ciliary extracellular vesicles are signaling devices.” Maureen Barr. Rutgers University.

4:25 pm – 4:43 pm – “TES-1/Tes protects junctional actin networks under tension from self-injury during epidermal morphogenesis in the C. elegans embryo.” Allison M. Lynch, Yuyun Zhu, Bethany G. Lucas, Jonathan D. Winkelman, Sterling C.T. Martin, Samuel D. Block, Keliya Bai, Jonathan Pettitt, Anjon Audhya, Margaret L. Gardel, Jeff Hardin. Biophysics Graduate Degree Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States, Genetics Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States, Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States, Department of Biology, Regis University, Denver, United States, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.

4:43 pm – 5:01 pm – “The conserved, secreted protease inhibitor MLT-11 is necessary for C. elegans molting and embryogenesis.” James Matthew Ragle, Max Levenson, John Clancy, Anthony Vo, Vivian Pham, Jordan Ward. University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States.

5:01 pm – 5:19 pm – “Neuroendocrine regulation of the Caenorhabditis elegans microbiome by aryl-hydrocarbon receptor.” Ciara Hosea, Adrien Assié, Fan Zhang, Dana Blackburn, Buck Samuel. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA.

5:19 pm – 5:30 pm – Break

5:30 pm – 5:48 pm – “Cohesin and a PLZF protein act together to direct a GABAergic neural fate and inhibit a tyraminergic neural fate.” Dongyeop Lee, Takashi Hirose, Bob Horvitz. HHMI, MIT, Dept. Biology, Cambridge, USA.

5:48 pm – 6:06 pm – “TOP-2 is Differentially Required for the Proper Maintenance of Sister Chromatid Cohesion Pathway Components on Meiotic Chromosomes in Spermatogenesis and Oogenesis.” Christine Rourke, Aimee Jaramillo-Lambert. University of Delaware, Newark, USA.

6:06 pm – 6:24 pm – “Identifying Functional Interaction Motifs Within C. elegans Eggshell Vitelline Layer Proteins.” Juliàn Prieto, Ysabella Alcaraz, Norani Abilo, Mohamad Alkhatib, Khadi Diallo, Louie Kulber, Essi Cathérine Logan, Katiannah Moise, Chris Vazquez, Angie Wang, Sara Olson. Pomona College, Claremont, USA.

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Dinner

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm – THE WORM and Party

Sunday August 14

9:00 am – 11:29 am Session 6

Session Chair: Claire de la Cova (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee)

9:00 am – 9:25 am – “Linker cell death.” Shai Shaham. Rockefeller University.

9:25 am – 9:43 am – “Anaphase B Spindle Elongation and Rigidity in C. elegans Female Meiosis.” Wenzhe Li, Francis J. McNally. University of California, Davis, Davis, United States.

9:43 am – 10:01 am – “Modeling Congenital Generalized Lipodystrophy in Caenorhabditis elegans.” Xiaofei Bai, Leng-Jie Huang, Sheng-Wen Chen, Benjamin Nebenfuehr, Brian Wysolmerski, Jui-Ching Wu, Sara Olson, Harold Smith, Chao-Wen Wang, Andy Golden. Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA, Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TAIWAN, Department of Clinical Laboratory Science and Medical Biotechnology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, TAIWAN, Department of Biology and Program in Molecular Biology, Pomona College, Claremont, USA.

10:01 am – 10:19 am – “TORC1, BORC, ARL-8 cycling, and Kinesin-1 drive vesiculation of cell corpse phagolysosomes.” Gholamreza Fazeli, Roni Levin-Konigsberg, Michael C Bassik, Christian Stigloher, Ann Wehman. University of Denver, Denver, USA, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA.

10:19 am – 10:35 am – Break

10:35 am – 10:53 am – “Variants in the Neurodevelopmental Disorder Gene unc-116 (KIF5C) Alter Axon Targeting by Disrupting Function of the NEKL-3 (NEK6/NEK7) Kinase in Axons.” Cody J. Drozd, Christopher C. Quinn. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, United States of America.

10:53 am – 11:11 am – “Lysosome-related organelles contain an expansion compartment that mediates zinc transporter delivery to promote zinc homeostasis in C. elegans.” Adelita Mendoza, Nicholas Dietrich, Chieh-Hsiang Tan, Daniel Herrera, Jennysue Kasiah, Zach Payne, Daniel Schneider, Kerry Kornfeld. Washington University, Saint Louis, United States, NIEHS, Epigenetics and Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, Durham, United States, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States.

11:11 am – 11:29 am – “MIG-6/papilin and extracellular matrix remodelling in the context of neuronal architecture.” Malika Nadour, Marie Biard, Lise Rivollet, Philippe St-Louis, Andrea Thackeray, Claire Bénard. Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, USA.

** indicates talk with undergraduate/post-bacc presenter