UPDATE: Due to COVID-19 this meeting has been postponed until March 15-19 2021.

Meeting Description:

The phenomenon of liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged in the last 10 years as a ubiquitous mechanism for organizing biopolymers within condensed, often liquid-like, bodies in cells to perform a dizzying array of biological processes. For example, phase separation is known to mediate nucleolar organization and ribosome biogenesis, cell fate determination in early development, activity-dependent protein translation in neurons, super enhancer-dependent gene expression, gene silencing, endocytosis, T cell receptor signaling, and many other processes too numerous to mention. Further, aberrant phase separation caused by gene mutations, or through altered protein regulation, is associated with a plethora of human diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders and a variety of cancers. This workshop will focus on several cutting-edge topics, as follows:

– Biological roles of phase separation, both cytoplasmic and nuclear
– Links between aberrant phase separation and disease
– Strategies to therapeutically modulate phase separation.

TSRC workshops are very small meetings (<25 attendees) which feature in depth discussion of topics at the interfaces of physics, chemistry and biology. All attendees will present a ~40 minute lecture and are encouraged to stay for the entire time. Meetings will be held in the mornings, allowing for afternoon discussions and outdoor activities, including skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobile driving, sledding, walking, etc. Discussions continue over ad hoc large and small group dinners.

We strive for gender and career-stage balance amongst attendees. In addition to attracting academic scientists, an important goal is to engage scientists from biotech companies focused on “drugging LLPS” that are beginning to emerge (e.g., Dewpoint Therapeutics, https://www.dewpointtherapeutics.com/) and others.