Conference Description
The Directed Cell Migration GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes a diverse range of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.
Directed cell migration plays central roles in shaping tissues during development, in tissue renewal and immune surveillance post-development, and in the most dangerous aspects of cancer progression. For the past twenty years, the Directed Cell Migration GRC has provided the intellectual home for a highly diverse group of scientists who study how cells migrate and sense direction in all the physiological contexts described above and who do so using a variety of approaches. The attendees typically include cell and developmental biologists, immunologists, cancer biologists, bioengineers, applied mathematicians, and physics, who all come together to discuss their latest unpublished data, learn from one another, and generate the types of novel hypotheses and collaborations that speed discovery. The meeting will feature 26 invited speakers who are a mixture of established community leaders and new rising stars. There will also be 20 short talks and 24 poster preview talks chosen from the abstracts that will allow students, postdocs, and junior faculty members to gain broad exposure for their work. We will further engage trainees in the meeting by holding a Gordon Research Seminar prior to the GRC, which provides even more opportunities for trainees to present their work and build strong connections with their peers. Finally, the meeting will feature two optional activities to strengthen our community – a GRC Power Hour, in which participants discuss how to overcome challenges faced by women and other underrepresented groups in science, and a Workshop on Scientific Storytelling led by Dr. Daniel Cohen, in which participants will learn to communicate their science to the public in an engaging way.
The topics, speakers, and discussion leaders for the conference sessions are displayed below. The conference chair is currently developing their detailed program, which will include the complete meeting schedule, as well as the talk titles for all speakers. The detailed program will be available by September 14, 2024. Please check back for updates.
Keynote Session: Tuning the Behavior of Migrating Cells for Diverse Applications
Discussion Leaders
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Rebecca Jones (Princeton University, United States)
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Tamas Nagy (University of California, Los Angeles, United States)
Speakers
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Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil (Institut Curie, France)
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Xavier Trepat (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Spain)
Inflammation and Wound Healing
Discussion Leaders
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Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil (Institut Curie, France)
Speakers
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Anna Huttenlocher (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States)
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Tim Laemmermann (University of Münster, Germany)
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Sussan Nourshargh (Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom)
Pathfinding and Navigation
Discussion Leaders
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Michael Sixt (Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Austria)
Speakers
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Carole Parent (University of Michigan, United States)
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Li Yu (Tsinghua University, China)
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Alex Mogilner (Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Department of Biology, New York University, United States)
Collective Migration
Discussion Leaders
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Xavier Trepat (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Spain)
Speakers
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Alpha Yap (University of Queensland, Australia)
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Ricard Alert (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Germany)
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Jocelyn McDonald (Kansas State University, United States)
Mechanics of Cell Shape and Polarity
Discussion Leaders
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Alpha Yap (University of Queensland, Australia)
Speakers
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Michael Sixt (Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Austria)
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Tobias Meyer (Weill Cornell, United States)
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Alba Diz-Muñoz (European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany)
Migration in the Context of Developing Tissues
Discussion Leaders
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Jocelyn McDonald (Kansas State University, United States)
Speakers
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Danelle Devenport (Princeton University, United States)
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Daria Siekhaus (University of California Los Angeles, United States)
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Caren Norden (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal)
Cytoskeletal Dynamics and Force Generation
Discussion Leaders
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Laura Machesky (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Speakers
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Guillaume Montagnac (Institut Gustave Roussy, France)
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Pere Roca-Cusachs (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain)
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Florian Schur (Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Austria)
Migration and the Metastatic Cascade
Discussion Leaders
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Guillaume Montagnac (Institut Gustave Roussy, France)
Speakers
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Laura Machesky (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
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Victoria Sanz-Moreno (The Institute of Cancer Research, United Kingdom)
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Kevin Cheung (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, United States)
Diverse Modes of Cell Motility
Discussion Leaders
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Danelle Devenport (Princeton University, United States)
Speakers
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Kirsty Wan (University of Exeter, United Kingdom)
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Anna Franz (University College London, United Kingdom)
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Katrina Velle (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, United States)
The GRC Power Hour™
Organizers
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Carole Parent (University of Michigan, United States)
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Anna Huttenlocher (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States)