Hot Topics in Bionanoscience

Course description: Speakers from all over the world are invited to present pedagogical introductions to their field with an emphasis on basic concepts. Apart from an introductory lecture, the participants of this course will have an additional discussion with the invited speaker. During that extra hour, they will discuss a recent paper and the holy grails of the field.

The first hour is a lecture and open for everyone to attend (in this case this BN seminar at 12:30-13:30h, on “Development of a molecular time machine to map the history of enhancer and gene activity in development and stem cell differentiation.”). The second hour is reserved as a discussion hour with the lecturer for the registered class of PhD students and postdocs.

Audience: Registered PhD students and postdocs (see registration form below).

Credits: Those participants who attended (pro-actively) two Hot Topics sessions will be awarded 1 Graduate School Credit (GSC). So this session will count for 0.5 GSC.

Preparation: PhD students who have registered for the Hot Topics course need to prepare for the session by reading the articles listed below. 

Date: Friday 14 April 2023

Speaker: Joost Gribnau (Erasmus MC, Rotterdam)

Host: Jos Zwanikken

Required reading: Participants are required to prepare for this session by reading the following papers (also as download-able files below):

• TBA
  

Abstract of the BN seminar: “Development of a molecular time machine to map the history of enhancer and gene activity in development and stem cell differentiation.”

The development of more than 400 cell types present in our body requires the action of complex molecular mechanisms. These involve activation of signal transduction pathways that instruct transcription factor networks and the epigenetic landscape to generate the gene expression programs that dictate the cell state. The development of the iPS technology provides a unique opportunity to drive differentiated cell types back in development and generate embryonic stem cells of virtually every patient, to study developmental control, homeostasis, and model disease. Unfortunately, robust and efficient protocols to differentiate these iPSCs to a specific cell type are lacking, and therefore increased knowledge of the mechanisms directing embryonic development is key to be able to establish proper in vitro differentiation models systems. In my lecture I will provide an overview of research conducted at the department of Developmental Biology at the Erasmus MC aimed at addressing this problem. In addition, I will introduce the DCM-time-machine (DCM-TM) technology we developed to establish gene and enhancer activity maps of the past, and will highlight the opportunities of application of DCM-TM to follow cell differentiation, embryonic development and tissue regeneration, identifying temporal maps of transcription factor networks and signal transduction pathways that can be used to improve stem cell expansion and cell differentiation models.

Registration
You can register for the course by filling in the form below. Your place at the course will be confirmed via email before the start of the Hot Topics session. In case there are too many registrants, a selection will be made based on first-come-first-served.