Host
Organized by: Immy Ashley, Mehdi Bouhaddou, Nevan Krogan, Jack Moen
Event Overview
The Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) invite you to join us on October 6 at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center for a symposium bringing together researchers from around the world to explore the molecular and cellular biology of aquatic organisms, titled "Molecular Mechanisms of Aquatic Organisms".
Featuring scientists working across a diverse range of non-model organisms, the symposium will highlight new technologies, discoveries, and mechanistic approaches that are advancing our understanding of marine biology. By bringing together researchers from different disciplines and perspectives, the event will create opportunities to exchange ideas, spark new collaborations, and explore emerging directions in the field. Whether you study aquatic organisms, develop tools and technologies for biological research, or are simply interested in the molecular mechanisms that shape life in aquatic environments, you are welcome to join the conversation.
Organized by:
Immy A. Ashley, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar - Bouhaddou Lab, UC Los Angeles
Mehdi Bouhaddou, PhD
Assistant Professor, UC Los Angeles
Nevan Krogan, PhD
Professor, UC San Francisco/Gladstone Institutes
Jack Moen, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow - Krogan Lab, UC San Francisco
Agenda
8:00 AM – Doors Open (light continental breakfast will be served with coffee)
SESSION ONE | Chaired by Mehdi Bouhaddou
9:00 AM – Opening Remarks
9:10 AM – Karla Helbig, La Trobe University – Harnessing Innate Immunity for Disease Prevention in Aquaculture
9:35 AM – Jack Moen, UC San Francisco – Functional Diversification of the Cephalopod Proteome by RNA-editing
10:00 AM – Immy Ashley, UC Los Angeles – Mapping the Coral Phosphoproteome: Host Signaling and the Decision to Bleach
10:25 AM – Break
SESSION TWO | Chaired by Immy Ashley
10:45 AM – Kennedi Scales, Stanford University – Functional Characterization of Fascin Proteins in Salpingoeca Rosetta (selected flash talk)
11:00 AM – Crawford Drury, University of Hawaii – Molecular Drivers of Variation in Coral Bleaching
11:25 AM – Chew Chai, Stanford University – Activity-dependent Gene Regulation In a Learning and Memory Circuit of the Octopus Brain
11:50 AM – Mariann Guzman-Espinoza, Stanford University – Investigating the Role of Abelson Tyrosine Kinases in the Closest Living Relatives of Animals (selected flash talk)
12:10 PM – Lunch
SESSION THREE | Chaired by Jack Moen
1:15 PM – Jose Pablo, UC Berkeley – Mechanisms of Ischemic Tolerance in Diving Seals
1:40 PM – Pablo Villar Del Rio, Harvard – A Sensory System for Mating in Octopus
2:05 PM – David Booth, UC San Francisco – Polysaccharides as Environmental Cues in Aquatic Microbial Communities
2:30 PM – Lauren Lubeck, Stanford University – Modulations Depending on Life History: Wnt Signaling In Trunk Patterning of Hemichordate Embryos
2:45 PM – Break
SESSION FOUR | Chaired by Mehdi Bouhaddou
3:05 PM – Adam Larson, Stanford University – How a Non-motile Cell Swims
3:30 PM – Dan Minor, UC San Francisco – Resisting A Toxic Environment: Frog ‘Toxin Sponges’ in Action
3:55 PM – Vijay Ramani, Gladstone Institutes – 3rd Generation Single-Molecule Sequencing to Explore New Genomes and Transcriptomes
4:20 PM – Philip Cleves, UC Berkeley – Molecular and Cellular Bases of Coral Symbiosis and Its Breakdown
4:45 PM – Closing Remarks
4:50-6:00 PM – Reception featuring a poster session and an exhibition of original artwork from the QBI Science Art Club’s “Aquatic Organisms” edition.
Abstract Submission
Call for Abstracts
We welcome abstract submissions from students, postdoctoral researchers, staff scientists, faculty, and other scientists working in areas related to the molecular and cellular biology of aquatic organisms. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:
- Omics
- Molecular and cellular biology
- Genetics
- Host–pathogen interactions
- Physiology
- Adaptation and evolution
- Environmental toxicology
- Emerging technologies and approaches for studying aquatic systems
Priority will be given to projects with aim to study molecular mechanisms, or technology to permit those investigations, governing biological processes in aquatic systems.
Presentation Opportunities
Abstracts are invited for poster presentations, and a limited number of submitted abstracts will be selected for short oral talks as part of the symposium program.
We especially encourage students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scientists to submit their work and take advantage of this opportunity to present their research to an interdisciplinary community.
The abstract submission portal is now closed.