• Susan Lindquist, 2010 winner of the US National Medal of Science – Lamarck redux: Prions, Hsp90 and the inheritance of environmentally acquired trait
• Giacomo Rizzolatti, discoverer of mirror neurons – Understanding actions, intentions and emotions of others
• Richard Axel, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology – Representations of olfactory information in higher cortical centres
• Mark Pagel, evolutionary theorist – Human language as a culturally transmitted replicator
• Austria Center Vienna, 10 – 13 September 2011
  
  

HEIDELBERG, Germany, 5 September 2011 – Helga Nowotny, President of the European Research Council, will open The EMBO Meeting 2011 this coming Saturday 10 September at the Austria Center Vienna. The annual conference is set to highlight the latest life science advances made in the laboratories of more than 120 of the world’s leading researchers.

Now in its third year, the conference attracts around 1,500 participants from Europe and worldwide to its diverse programme that covers the full range of life science subject areas. Scientific participants include principle investigators, postdoctoral researchers and students. Policy makers, editors, career advisors, journalists, science bloggers and industry representatives figure strongly among the participant list.

David Anderson, Richard Axel, Cori Bargmann, Bonnie Bassler, Jeffrey Bennetzen, Simon Boulton, Evan Eichler, Florian Engert, B. Brett Finlay, Stefan Jentsch, Susan Lindquist, Edvard Moser, May-Britt Moser, Mark Pagel, Paul Rainey, Giacomo Rizzolati, Paul Schulze-Lefert, Lucy Shapiro and Michael Stratton are some of the leading researchers at the conference who will present in keynote, plenary and special lectures. Twenty-one concurrent sessions and more than 600 posters will generate discussion around recent research results.

Meet the Press events

Journalists are invited to meet with Susan Lindquist and Giacomo Rizzolatti. Both events will be held in the Press Room (Yellow level, Suite E) on the ground floor of the Austria Center Vienna. The Press Room is reserved for journalist use from Saturday to Tuesday during conference hours.

Meet the Press with Susan Lindquist: Lamarck was right after all, 13:00 - 14:00 Sunday 11 September, Yellow level, Suite E

Meet the Press with Giacomo Rizzolatti: new ideas about the perception of other people's action, 10:00 - 11:00 Monday 12 September, Yellow level, Suite E

To arrange interviews with any of the speakers during the four-day conference, please contact Suzanne Beveridge (T: +49 1609 0193 839) or Eva-Maria Gruber (T: +43 699 104 32 400).

Downloads

Downloads only available until 9 September, for registered participants and journalists. Please contact us and we'll send you the links.

Recent scientific publications by conference speakers

Opposing Effects of Glutamine and Asparagine Govern Prion Formation by Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Susan Lindquist et al. Molecular Cell, doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2011.05.013

Parallel evolution of domesticated Caenorhabditis species targets pheromone receptor genes Cori Bargmann et al. Nature, doi: 10.1038/nature10378

Female gametophytic cell specification and seed development require the function of the putative Arabidopsis INCENP ortholog WYRD Ueli Grossnicklaus et al. Development 138, doi: 10.1242/dev.060384

A copy number variation morbidity map of developmental delay Evan Eichler et al. Nature Genetics, doi: 10.1038/ng.909

Polar actomoysin contractility destabilizes the position of the cytokinetic furrow Ewa Paluch et al. Nature, doi: 10.1038/nature1028

Conference highlights

Saturday 10 September:
17:30 Opening address, Helga Nowotny
18:00 Plenary lectures – Hosts & Microbes
20:00 Welcome drinks & exhibition opening

Sunday 11 September:
09:00 Keynote lecture, Susan Lindquist
10:30 Plenary lectures – Genome evolution
13:45 Concurrent sessions 1 – 6
16:15 Poster session A
17:45 Special lecture, Mark Pagel
18:45 Science & Society session, Giacomo Rizzolati

Monday 12 September:
09:00 Louis-Jeantet Prize 2011 lectures, May-Britt Moser & Stefan Jentsch
10:30 Concurrent sessions 7 – 11
14:45 Concurrent sessions 12 – 16
17:30 Poster session B
18:45 EMBO Gold Medal 2011 lecture, Simon Boulton
20:00 Conference Party at the Natural History Museum (tickets required)

Tuesday 13 September:
09:00 Keynote lecture – Richard Axel
10:30 Plenary lectures – brain & behaviour
12:30 Poster session C
14:30 Concurrent sessions 17 – 21
16:30 Closing address

Explore the full programme online at: http://www.the-embo-meeting.org/programme.html

Media participation

Complimentary meeting registration is available to members of the media who provide appropriate press credentials and identification via the conference registration system.

• All scientific sessions at The EMBO Meeting 2011 are open to registered members of the media.

• Registered journalists must wear/display their conference press badge at all times while onsite.

• Exchanging, loaning or borrowing of the conference press badge is not allowed.

• Filming onsite during the conference must be pre-arranged with the EMBO Public Relations & Communications office.

• Complimentary media registration is not available to: advertising, marketing, public relations or sales representatives from any publication; publishers, editors or reporters from exhibiting companies and sponsors; in-house newsletters or promotional publications staff; public relations representatives of exhibitors or educational institutions; writers of commercial reports and financial analysts; medical education companies; or others who are not reporting on the content of The EMBO Meeting 2011.

Media contact information

Suzanne Beveridge
Head, EMBO Public Relations & Communications
M: +49 1609 0193 839

Eva-Maria Gruber
Conference media relations
M: +49 1609 0193 839
M: +43 104 32 400