About the Workshop
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Programmed cell death (PCD) is a fundamental biological process, serving many important functions in animal development and homeostasis, and the pathogenesis of many diseases is attributed to its malfunctioning. Apoptosis is the most common form of PCD executed by a unique family of proteases called caspases. However, caspases are also involved in a variety of important nonapoptotic processes. Furthermore, PCD can sometimes proceed in the absence of caspase activity through alternative pathways.
Topics will include: |
A fundamental characteristic of multicellular organisms is the ability to activate a gene-encoded cell suicide program called programmed cell death (PCD). PCD serves many important functions in animal development and homeostasis, such as sculpting body structures, deleting unneeded structures, adjusting cell numbers, and eliminating abnormal, misplaced, nonfunctional, or harmful cells. The pathogenesis of many diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, is attributed to the malfunctioning of PCD. Apoptosis, the most common form of PCD, is characterized by a conserved sequence of morphological, cellular, biochemical and molecular events. A key feature of apoptosis is the activation of a unique family of cysteine aspartyl proteases called caspases. Caspases are synthesized as inactive proenzymes, which work together in a precisely controlled proteolytic cascade to activate themselves and one another. |
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| PCD in Development | |||||||||||
| PCD signaling and Disease | |||||||||||
| The Mitochondrial Pathway | |||||||||||
| Caspases, Apoptosis and Cellular Remodeling | |||||||||||
| PCD and IAPs | |||||||||||
| Alternate Death Pathways | |||||||||||
| PCD in Unicellular Organisms | |||||||||||
| Immunity, signaling and Cell Clearance | |||||||||||
Downstream of this activational cascade, caspases cleave a variety of regulatory and structural proteins and important enzymes, targeting the cell for destruction by disassembling its contents. However, a critical mass of data indicates that apoptotic caspases are also involved in a variety of nonapoptotic vital cellular processes. On the other hand, PCD can sometimes proceed in the absence of caspase activity, through alternative cell death pathways. Furthermore, caspase-independent forms of PCD constitute the main cell death pathways in other organisms, such as plants, protozoa and bacteria. Therefore, the ability to eliminate unwanted or potentially dangerous cells is not only fundamental in metazoans but cross kingdoms. |
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Remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of the basic mechanisms of apoptosis and many of its regulatory pathways. However, many important unresolved questions remain. For example:
| • | what are the roles of apoptosis/caspase activation in development? | • | How do caspases promote vital cellular processes? |
| • | Why do different cells display substantial differences in their response to apoptotic stimuli? | • | What are the molecular constituents and physiological roles of the alternative, caspase-independent, death pathways? |
| • | How do some cells avoid death in the presence of active caspases that would normally induce apoptosis in other cells? | • | How conserved are these alternative pathways in evolution and development? |
| • | Why do cancer cells often develop resistance to apoptotic stimuli? | • | What are the critical signals for cell clearance, and how conserved are they? |
| • | What is the precise role of the mitochondria and its dynamics in caspase activation and apoptosis, and in alternate cell death pathways? | • | How can the knowledge we gain on PCD be exploited for developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for fighting diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders? |
| • | What are the critical cellular substrates of caspases in cell death and vital cellular processes? |
These and additional important questions will be discussed in the workshop, which will focus on molecular mechanisms and principles of PCD pathways. Specific emphasis will be set to the work done in multicellular model organisms, such as Drosophila, C. elegans, mouse and Xenopus, and unicellular organisms, including yeast, trypanosome, and E. coli. Scientists studying mechanisms of programmed cell death come from diverse disciplines, including molecular and cellular biology, developmental biology, cancer biology, mitochondria dynamics, neurodegenerative diseases, and many more. They share the interest of understanding the molecular, cellular, and developmental aspects of this essential process, which will hopefully lead one day to rational designs of drugs for a variety of therapeutic purposes (e.g. cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, myopathies, AIDS, mitochondrial diseases, etc). |
We therefore invited a wide range of leading scientists, who represent the variety of approaches and disciplines mentioned above. These include scientists working on the basic molecular and cellular mechanisms of PCD, as well as those performing translational research, who are involved in drug design for therapeutic purposes.
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Credits: Pictures 1, 2, 8 were adopted from the Israel Ministry of Tourism.
We look forward to welcoming you to Ein-Gedi! The Organisers |
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  click image above to view/download meeting poster |
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Co-Sponsors
