The „Microsymposium on Small RNA Biology“ is a three day international conference that brings together young scientists, junior and senior group leaders, and company representatives from all over the world to present and discuss their latest findings in the exciting field of small RNAs. The Microsymposium was founded in 2005 and has established itself as the major small RNA meeting in Europe. It is organized by the three research institutions IMBA, IMP, and GMI, as well as by the RNA community of the Vienna Biocenter.
In all three eukaryotic kingdoms, small regulatory RNAs play a key role in the silencing of gene expression at the post-transcriptional and the transcriptional level. They have central functions in the repression of viruses and transposons and they play essential roles in coordinating organismal development, physiological processes and human diseases, such as cancer.
To strengthen the focus on the new generation of scientists, the Microsymposium invites—besides established leaders in the field—selected postdoctoral researchers as well as ten PhD students (selected from submitted Poster abstracts) as speakers. This allows the up-and-coming scientists to present their projects and results to a highly qualified, engaged and dynamic audience and is a major distinguishing factor from other conferences.
The Microsymposium is entirely financed by biotech companies, scientific societies, leading journals, the city of Vienna, and the research institutions IMBA, IMP, and GMI. These generous contributions make the Microsymposium a registration-free meeting, which attracts in particular students and postdocs from all over the world.
Alexei Aravin
Caltech, United States
Peter Brodersen
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Marc Bühler
FMI, Switzerland
Severine Chambeyron
CNRS, Montpellier, France
Jeffrey Chao
FMI, Switzerland
Luisa Cochella
Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Austria
Dan Dominissini
Sheba Medical Center affiliated with Tel-Aviv University
Hailing Jin
University of California, Riverside, USA
Nelson Lau
Brandeis University, United States
Judy Lieberman
Harvard Medical School, United States
Ana Claudia Marques
Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
Rob Martienssen
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, United States
Jean-Yves Roignant
IMB Mainz, Germany
Mikiko Siomi
Keio University School of Medicine, Japan
Keith Slotkin
The Ohio State University, United States
Nick Sokol
Indiana University, Bloomington, United States
Igor Ulitsky
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Blake Wiedenheft
Montana State University, United States
Mihaela Zavolan
University of Basel, Switzerland
Daniel Zilberman
UC Berkeley, United States
Note: The Meeting will take place at the new IMP building just behind the IMBA building.
Address: Campus-Vienna-Biocenter 1, 1030 Vienna, Austria
FRIDAY MAY 26th
09.00 – 11.00 Registration / Snacks
11.00 – 11.10 Welcome and Introduction
Small RNAs in transposon defense
Chair: Julius Brennecke
11.10 – 11.40 Mikiko Siomi – piRNA biogenesis in Drosophila and Bombyx germlines
11.40 – 12.10 Severine Chambeyron – Piwi defines the identity of piRNA clusters during a specific embryonic development window
12.10 – 12.30 Martin Kreutz – Identification of Circulating Biomarkers for Colorectal Cancer: An NGS Approach (Qiagen sponsored talk)
12.30 – 13.00 Peter Andersen (Brennecke Lab) – A heterochromatin-dependent transcription machinery drives piRNA expression
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch (IMP Cafeteria) / Poster Setup
14.00 – 14.30 Alexei Aravin – Biogenesis and functions of piRNA in the nucleus
14.30 – 15.00 Nelson Lau – Piwi target silencing is impacted by RNA elongation
PhD Workshop – Part 1
Chair: Madalena Reimão-Pinto
15.00 – 16.00
KIM BAEKGYU PHD Seoul National University Genome-wide mapping of DROSHA cleavage sites on primary microRNAs and novel substrates
McGeary Sean PHD HHMI, MIT, and Whitehead Institute Biochemical analyses of millions of possible miRNA–target site interactions
Chiara Alberti PHD IMP, Vienna A novel small RNA labeling approach uncovers the tissue- and cell-specific microRNomes of C. elegans
16.00 – 16.30 Coffee Break (Auditorium)
Regulation of gene expression
Chair: Andrea Pauli
16.30 – 17.00 Mihaela Zavolan – Splicing factors enhance the transcription factor-mediated cell reprogramming
17.00 – 17.30 Veronika Herzog (Ameres Lab) – Thiol-linked alkylation for the metabolic sequencing of RNA
17.30 – 18.00 Jeffrey Chao – Imaging the life and death of mRNAs in single cells
18.30 Dinner at the IMP cafeteria
SATURDAY MAY 27th
RNA in immune defense
Chair: Stefan Ameres
09.00 – 09.30 Judy Lieberman – Shooting the Messenger: Rapid and Global mRNA Decay in Apoptosis
09.30 – 10.00 Blake Wiedenheft – A CRISPR immune response to viruses that infect bacteria
10.00 – 10.30 Hailing Jin – Small RNAs and cross-Kingdom RNAi in Plant-Pathogen Interaction
10.30 – 11.00 Coffee Break (Auditorium)
PhD Workshop – Part 2
Chair: Jakob Schnabl
11.00 – 12.00
Beltran Antoni PHD MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, ICL Evolutionary analysis of piRNA genomic organisation reveals two fundamental modes of piRNA biogenesis in nematodes
Dunker Florian PHD University of Munich (LMU) The role of small RNAs in pathogenic oomycete-plant interactions
Oberlin Stefan PHD ETH Zürich A genome-wide transcriptome and translatome analysis of Arabidopsis transposons identifies a unique and conserved genome expression strategy for Ty1/Copia retroelements
12.00 – 14.00 Lunch and Poster Viewing (IMP Lecture Hall and Auditorium Balcony)
Long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs
Chair: Luisa Cochella
14.00 – 14.30 Anna Claudia Marques – Contributions of lincRNAs cell cycle regulation
14.30 – 15.00 Monika Piwecka (Rajwesky Lab) – Loss of Cdr1as, a conserved mammalian circular RNA, causes miRNA deregulation and a neuropsychiatric phenotype
15.00 – 15.30 Igor Ulitsky – Sequence elements driving nuclear localization of long RNAs in mammalian cells
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee break (Auditorium)
The Epitranscriptome: Emerging function of RNA Modifications
Chair: Michael Jantsch
16.00 – 16.30 Jean-Yves Roignant – Insights into the roles and mechanisms of the m6A mRNA pathway in Drosophila
16.30 – 17.00 Dan Dominissini – Epitranscriptome – beyond base methylation
17.15 Tour and Dinner for academic speakers
Bar for PhD Workshop speakers
SUNDAY MAY 28th
Epigenetic gene regulation
Chair: Oliver Bell
09.00 – 09.30 Rob Martienssen – Germline reprogramming and transposon control with small RNA
09.30 – 10.00 Keith Slotkin – Establishment of Heterochromatin: Initiation of Transposable Element Recognition and Targeting
10.00 – 10.30 Marc Bühler – Protecting active chromatin from RNAi-directed epigenetic gene silencing
10.30 – 11.00 Coffee Break (Auditorium)
11.00 – 11.30 Daniel Zilberman – Epigenetic inheritance of DNA methylation patterns
PhD Workshop – Part 3
Chair: Julia Batki
11.30 – 12.30
Sakakibara Kazuhiro PHD The University of Tokyo The role of Zucchini in 3? end processing of the piRNA intermediate within the Siwi-pre-piRISC in silkworm germ cells
Rogers Alicia PHD California Institute of Technology Primary piRNA processing is triggered by sequestration of RNA to nuage
Dallaire Alexandra PHD Laval University Cancer Research Center An unexpected function for germline microRNAs
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch and Poster Viewing (IMP Lecture Hall and Auditorium Balcony)
RNA in development and differentiation
Chair: Michael Nodine
14.00 – 14.30 Nick Sokol – The LIN-28/let-7 pathway in Drosophila stem cells and differentiation
14.30 – 15.00 Peter Brodersen – New insights into the requirement for 2’-O-methylation of plant miRNAs
15.00 – 15.30 Luisa Cochella – Two classes of miRNAs are required for animal development
15.30 Awards and closing of the meeting
16.00 Light bites and socializing (IMBA Atrium)
Conference Location
ATTENTION: New location! The Meeting will take place at the new IMP just behind the IMBA building.
IMP - Institute of Molecular Pathology
Campus-Vienna-Biocenter 1, 1030 Vienna, AUSTRIA
Phone.: +43 (1) 790 44
Traveling to Vienna
By plane:
The International Airport Schwechat (VIE) is just outside of Vienna. It serves most European Cities and has also several daily flights to America and Asia. A direct S-Bahn (S7) connects the airport to the Vienna Biocenter (25min ride) for just Euro 4.40 (tickets are available directly at the train station).
An alternative airport is the Bratislava Airport (BTS) which is served by several much cheaper airlines. From there, a bus connects to Vienna (approximately 1 hour ride).
By train:
Look for the train offers from the oebb (Austrian Railways) which connect many European cities to Vienna.
By bus:
Check the Eurolines website for connections to many European Cities.
Where to stay in Vienna
Here are a few suggestions for hotels in the vicinity of IMBA or that are very convenient to reach by public transportation:
If you are looking for cheaper options, there are a number of youth hostels
