From 25th to 29th August 2025, 270 scientists met in Münster, Germany, for the 21st International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas. Over two-thirds of the participants came from abroad, mainly from Europe, but also many from the USA, China, and Japan. Thanks to the support of the German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) for the conference, the participation fees for several doctoral students could be kept low.
The lectures were held in the Fürstenberghaus, lunch was served in the cafeteria at the Aasee, and dinner, poster presentations, and the party took place in a large tent directly in front of the Prince-Bishop's Palace. We walked up to 10 km every day between the locations and didn't even notice it, thanks to the lively scientific exchange along the way! Here, everyone had to get used to the typical Münster view over their shoulders so as not to overlook any of the many cyclists in the town.
Topics
The 86 presentations and 122 posters focused on topics such as photosynthesis, organelles, responses to environmental changes, biotechnological applications, structural biology, cilia, and new methods and tools. Since Chlamydomonas is primarily used in Europe for the study of photosynthesis, there were three large photosynthesis sessions. One highlight was the new barcode-labeled mutant library from the Jonikas lab (Princeton, USA) with 71,700 new mutants covering 80% of the genome. It was also striking how routinely CRISPR/Cas9 is used. The particular suitability of Chlamydomonas for cryo-ET-based structural biology also became clear, beautifully illustrated by the mitochondrial respirasome in the presentation by Florent Waltz (Biozentrum Basel).
Well renowned Chlamydomonas scientists
Highlights included the plenary lectures by Peter Hegemann (Berlin) and Nathan Nelson (Tel Aviv, Israel). Peter Hegemann, who has pioneered optogenetics thanks to his groundbreaking work on channelrhodopsin, reported on how a heterodimeric protein complex with two chromophores can absorb blue and red light. 87-year-old Nathan Nelson showed us how it is possible to remain at the forefront of research even at an advanced age! In his razor-sharp lecture, he showed us structures of photosystem II assembly intermediates in Chlamydomonas, from which the two new assembly factors Psb1 and 2 emerged.
Lecture and poster prizes went to England and China
The first prize for the best lecture by a young scientist went to Ousmane Dao from the University of York, UK, for his contribution Photorespiration is essential for acclimation to low CO₂ in Chlamydomonas. The first prize for the best poster by a young scientist went to Lian Ye from the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan, China, for his contribution RNA-based transient expression and cell-wall surface display expand the synthetic biology toolbox of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
Conclusion
In summary, this conference was a great success: the beautiful city of Münster and the wonderful castle provided an unforgettable scenery. The conference was supported above all by the many early career scientists from all over the world who, with their enthusiasm for this extraordinary model organism, predict a long life for the scientific “Chlamy community”.
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In October
Prof. Dr Michael Hippler, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) Münster, Institute of Plant Biotechnology and Biology, Münster, Germany
Prof. Dr Michael Schroda, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau University of Technology, Molecular Biotechnology & Systems Biology, Kaiserslautern, Germany