09. Oct 2024 Actualia (engl.) · Conference Report

Symposium of the International Society of Endocytobiology (ISE) 2024

The participants of the conference gathered on the balcony of the RUB Convention Centre. Photo: Beatrix Dünschede

Around 60 researchers gathered in Bochum for this year's symposium of the International Society of Endocytobiology (ISE) from September 10 to 12. This year’s conference was organized by Professor Danja Schünemann and her team at the Ruhr University Bochum. Over two and a half days, 35 presentations and 13 posters highlighted the latest research findings in the field of endocytobiology. A key focus of the symposium, once again, was on the evolution of chloroplasts and mitochondria and their molecular functions, including aspects such as gene expression, protein sorting, and organelle/membrane biogenesis. Additionally, many contributions centered on the analysis of organismic symbiosis. In her report Schünemann pronounces the importance of conferences especially for early career scientists and lists the awarded presentations. 

One of the key highlights of the meeting was the opening lecture given by Thomas Mock from the University of East Anglia. He discussed the evolution of marine microalgae and their associated microbial communities, emphasizing the significant role these organisms play in global carbon cycling, contributing to 50% of the annual carbon fixation.

A primary goal of the ISE symposium is to provide early-career scientists with opportunities to present their work. To support this, the program was designed to ensure that as many young researchers as possible could give oral presentations, if they wished. Thanks to support from the German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG), participation fees were kept particularly low for early-career researchers. Furthermore, the symposium provided ample opportunities for in-depth exchange between junior and senior scientists during the poster session, coffee breaks, and a walk through the Botanical Garden of the Ruhr University Bochum.

A total of five awards were presented to young researchers. Three Eppendorf Prizes were given for the best talks. The best talk prize was awarded to Lena Osterhoff (Ruhr University Bochum) for her presentation “STIC2 is associated with ribosome-nascent chain complexes and involved in cotranslational sorting of thylakoid proteins“. The Grainger Bioinformatics Prize was given to Parth Raval (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) for his work on "Evolutionary Refinement of Organelle Import Fidelity in Plants." The Peter-Sitte Poster Prize went to Ella Kobaivanov (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) for her contribution “Restorer of Fertility Like 1 (RFL1) Protein in Plant Mitochondrial Gene Expression and RNA Metabolism”.

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In October 2024, Prof. Dr. Danja Schünemann, Ruhr University Bochum, Molecular Biology of Plant Organelles

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