Newswise — Bethesda, MD -- (March 28, 2013)—Media Alert: The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce the 54th Annual Drosophila Research Conference, April 3-7, 2013 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, D.C. This annual meeting brings together basic research scientists, who study genetic models in Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, whose hereditary traits were first studied nearly a century ago by Thomas Hunt Morgan. Research in Drosophila continues to push the boundaries of our knowledge of genetics and biology, and continues to inform us about human biology.

Media Reps: Representatives of the media are cordially invited to attend the scientific presentations. If you are interested in attending, please contact: Phyllis Edelman, [email protected], 301-634-7302 or 301-351-0896 to register.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM

Keynote Address: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. Nobel Laureate (2011) Jules Hoffman, PhD (IBMC, University of Strasbourg, France) will be the keynote speaker on the topic of “Innate Immunity: From Flies to Humans.” Dr. Hoffmann will discuss his research on innate immunity and his work on Toll receptors which led to his Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared with Bruce Beutler and Ralph Steinman. (NOTE: An embargoed press release will be available for media on this keynote address.)

Plenary Sessions: There are two Plenary Sessions: Thursday morning at the start of the conference and Sunday morning at its closing. They will cover the breadth of contemporary research being conducted in Drosophila from population genetics, neurobiology, chromosome biology and more. For more information on the meeting, see the program listing at the website: http://www.dros-conf.org/cgi-bin/dros13a/dros13SOE.pl

Session I Date: Thursday, April 3, 8:30 AM – 12:10 PM; Location: Marriott Ballroom Salons 1-3, Lobby Level

Moderator: David Stern, PhD (Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, Virginia)

Plenary speakers in order of presentation: Marc Freeman, PhD (University of Massachusetts Medical School) studies the development and function of glia. Major foci for the lab include unraveling the genetic programs underlying glial development and function and studying neuron-glia signaling that contributes to neural circuit architecture.

Tom Clandinin, PhD (Stanford University) studies how neuronal circuits assemble during development and how this process goes wrong in neurodegenerative diseases. The lab also studies how these circuits underlie computation required for behavior.

Chris Jiggins, PhD (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) studies the genetic basis for adaptation and speciation in butterflies and moths. The lab has a major focus on the genetic underpinnings of mimicry complexes in Heliconius butterflies.

Naama Barkai, PhD (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) studies the logic of biological circuits. Her lab employs a multi-disciplinary approach—including experiments, dynamic-system theory, and computational analysis—to study how variability is buffered by, and can contribute to, biological circuits.

Leanne Jones, PhD (Salk Institute) studies the regulation of stem cells. Her lab is focused on understanding how the stem cell niche regulates stem cell behavior and the role of nutrition and aging in stem cell activity.

Jürg Müller, PhD (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany) studies how chromatin-modifying and chromatin-binding proteins influence gene transcription. His lab focuses on how the Polycomb group and trithorax group genes maintain repressive and activating states, respectively.

Session II: Date: Sunday, April 7, 8:30 AM – 12:15 PM; Location: Marriott Ballroom Salons 1-3, Lobby Level

Moderator: Hannele Ruohola-Baker, PhD (University of Washington, Seattle)

Plenary speakers in order of presentation: Scott Barolo, PhD (University of Michigan) studies the function and evolution of cis-regulatory transcriptional enhancer elements. His lab has focused on disentangling the complex “grammar” of transcriptional enhancers.

Greg Hannon, PhD (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) studies small RNA biology. The lab is currently focused on the roles of microRNAs, endogenous siRNAs, and piRNAs in gene regulation, cancer biology, stem cell biology and transposon regulation.

Ilaria Rebay, PhD (University of Chicago) studies how signal transduction modulates cell fate specification. Her lab has focused on how the receptor tyrosine kinase pathway regulates embryonic and eye development.

Martin Hetzer, PhD (Salk Institute) studies extremely long-lived proteins and proteins that contribute to the structure and function of the nucleus. His lab is interested in how these proteins contribute to normal function, aging, and cancer.

Andrea Brand, PhD (Cambridge University, United Kingdom) studies development of neurons from neural stem cells. Her lab has focused on the determinants of asymmetric cell-division and the regulation of stem cell self-renewal versus differentiation.

Nancy Bonini, PhD (University of Pennsylvania) uses Drosophila as a model for human neurodegenerative disease. The lab is focused on identifying pathways and molecules involved in Drosophila models of Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease to enable development of novel therapeutics for these diseases.

Concurrent Platform Sessions: Among the topics to be discussed at the Drosophila Research Conference are: cell division and growth control; Drosophila models of human disease; evolution and quantitative genetics; immunity and pathogenesis; neurophysiology and behavior; and physiology and aging. Concurrent platform sessions will be held: Fri. and Sat, 8:30 – 10:15 a.m; 10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; Thurs. and Fri. 4:30-6:30 p.m; Sat, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. For information on the platform sessions, see the website.

Embargoed press releases are available on the following sessions:

Session Title: Immunity and Pathogenesis Program: #43 -- Date and Time: Friday, April 5, 2013; 9:30-9:45 a.m. Location: Marriott Ballroom Salon 3, Lobby Level Intersection of Drosophila innate immunity and epidermal wound response in the serine proteolytic pathway. Michelle T. Juarez, Rachel A. Patterson, William McGinnis. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA.

Session Title: Drosophila Models of Human Diseases I Program #91 -- Date and Time: Saturday, April 6, 2013; 8:30-8:45 AM Mannitol -- a BBB disrupter is also a potent α-synuclein aggregation inhibitro for treating Parkinson's disease. Daniel Segal1,2, Ronit Shaltiel-Karyo1, Moran Frenkel-Pinter1, Edward Rockenstein3, Christina Patrick3, Michal Levy-Sakin1, Nirit Egoz-Matia1, Eliezer Masliah3, Ehud Gazit1. 1) Department of Molecular Microbiol & Biotech, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; 2) Sagol School of Neurosciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; 3) Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

GENERAL PRESS INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION: The 54th Annual Drosophila Research Conference is open to print, online and broadcast news media and freelance science, medical and health writers on a verifiable assignment from an established news source. Complimentary meeting registration will be available to members of the media who provide appropriate press credentials and identification.

To register for the meeting and all other media inquiries, please contact: Phyllis Edelman, GSA Communications and Public Relations Manager, [email protected], or phone: 301-634-7302 or 301-351-0896. ABOUT THE GSA DROSOPHILA RESEARCH CONFERENCE: At least 1,500 researchers attend the annual GSA Drosophila Research Conference to share the latest research using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and other insect species. Many of findings from these model organisms have broad application for the study of human genetic traits and diseases. For more information about the conference, see http://www.dros-conf.org/2013/

ABOUT THE GENETICS SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional scientific society for genetics researchers and educators. Its nearly 5,000 members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level. GSA promotes research and fosters communication among geneticists worldwide through a number of GSA-sponsored conferences including the biennial conference on Model Organisms to Human Biology, an interdisciplinary meeting on current and cutting edge topics in genetics research, and annual and biennial meetings that focus on the genetics of particular model organisms. GSA publishes GENETICS, the leading journal for seminal research in the field and a new, online publication, G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, which publishes high quality foundational research, particularly research that generates useful genetic and genomic information. For more information about GSA, please visit www.genetics-gsa.org. Also follow GSA on Facebook at facebook.com/GeneticsGSA and on Twitter @GeneticsGSA.