Building The Cell


a special-interest sub-group meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology
Saturday December 11, 2010. 12:30 - 5:00 pm. Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 111
Introduction to Building the Cell

Modern cell biology has made great strides in understanding cell structure and function. As with any engineering problem, however, there is a third important aspect that needs to be understood besides structure and function, and that is assembly. How are the complex three dimensional structures found within the cell specified by a one-dimensional genome? In this session we will explore the mechanisms by which cellular structures are determined and regulated. Because this question lies at the interface of biology and physics, this year's Building the Cell will be a highly interdisciplinary session with speakers whose interests range from soft matter physics and mathematical modeling to imaging and cell biology.

Session Organizer Wallace Marshall, Dept. of Biochemistry & Biophysics, UCSF

Schedule

12:30 Wallace Marshall, Dept. of Biochemistry & Biophysics, UCSF

Introductory Remarks - towards an engineering view of cell biology

12:45 Sophie Dumont Dept. of Systems Biology, Harvard Med.

-Generating and responding to mechanical force during cell division: the case of the kinetochore.

1:10 Sid Shaw Dept. Biology, Indiana University

-Treadmilling and the organiation of centriolar microtubule arrays in Arabidopsis.

1:35 Sarah Olson Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

-Assembly of the C. elegans embryonic permeabilty barrier following fertilization.

2:00 John Crocker Dept. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UPENN

-Putting the cell back together

2:25 Csilla Szabo Dept. Mathematical Sciences, US Military Academy, West Point

-A Markov model for actin polymer dynamics and cell membrane protrusion

2:50 - 3:00 intermission

3:00 Manuel Thery Life Sciences Division, CEA Grenoble

-Assembly and contraction of actin network architectures

3:25 Ke HuDept. Biology, Indiana University

-The structure and function of the cytoskeleton of a human parasite, Toxoplasma gondii.

3:50 Susanne Rafelski, Dept. of Biochemistry, UCSF

-Mitochondrial network size scaling in budding yeast is achieved in the bud at the expense of the mother

4:15 Tom Pollard MCDB Dept., Yale Universityp>

-Building the contractile ring in fission yeast.

How to attend

Building the Cell is formally a pre-meeting special interest subgroup session attached to the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). The session is held the afternoon before the official start of the meeting, however in order to attend the session one must be registered for the ASCB meeting. Detailed information about the ASCB meeting including registration, program, and accommodations may be found at the ASCB Annual Meeting Web Site. Apart from registering for the ASCB meeting, no special registration is required specifically for Building the Cell. Please join us for an exciting discussion at the interface of biology and physics!