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2021 Summer School in Protocell Models

Europe/Berlin
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

Pfotenhauerstrasse 108 D - 01307 Dresden
Dora Tang
Description

Compartmentalisation is a key property of life and its role can be
understood from a chemical, biological, physical, and material
standpoint with informed applications in biotechnology, origin of
life, and cell biology. This course provides a glimpse into this
fascinating, interdisciplinary world.

This school provides lectures and hands-on tutorials to introduce the
key concepts of protocellular research. The Summer School includes
webinars focused on the practical aspects of making coacervates
microdroplets and lipid vesicles via bulk and microfluidic
methodologies, networking opportunities and targeted careers sessions.

In addition to lectures and tutorials, we will feature plenary
lectures by distinguished scientists working with compartmentalisation
in the fields of origin of life and cell biology and host an afternoon
focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and careers. You will hear
first-hand stories of how companies grew from fundamental research and
have the opportunity to discuss and network with scientists from
academia and industry.

The Summer School is intended for Master, Diploma, and early stage PhD
students with a background in Natural Science and a keen interest in
compartmentalisation in Origin of Life, Synthetic Biology, or Cellular
Biology.

All aspects of this summer school will take place online.

A limited number of 40 students will be selected to participate in the
summer school full-time.

Course Overview:

  • Compartmentalisation in origin of life and cell biology
  • Self-assembly of coacervates and lipid vesicles
  • Theory of phase diagrams and Ostwalds ripening
  • Enzyme kinetics in compartments
  • Principle of microfluidic fabrication and applications
  • Basic principles of light microscopy and image analysis
  • Networking & Focus on careers in academia and industry

Speakers:

Panelists:

  • Shrada Das (Blue Matter)
  • Julia Sepulveda (Elvesys)
  • Jessica Ayache (Elvesys)
  • Fabrice Gallou (Novartis)
  • Shruti Rattan (DuPont)
  • Eliott Varon (Direction Generale de l'Aviation Civile)
  • Adam Perriman (University of Bristol, UK)
Participants
  • Achuthan Raja Venkatesh
  • Adrian Merino Salomon
  • Alessandro Bevilacqua
  • Alexander Bergmann
  • Amaury BRISSON
  • Ambika Somasundar
  • Ana Paulina Sortillón-Sortillón
  • Anju Tomar
  • Anton Bokach
  • Anusha Joshi
  • Archishman Ghosh
  • ARMIN KIANI
  • Arsenii Hordeichyk
  • BIPLAB KC
  • Camila Betterelli Giuliano
  • Chun So
  • Daniele Rossetto
  • Darwin Carranza Saavedra
  • Ella Mullikin
  • Emilia Krok
  • Freek de Graaf
  • Hanadi Rammu
  • Hansen Lars Henning
  • Hongfei Liu
  • Jakub Haduła
  • Jana Bocková
  • Jonathan Bowen
  • Kshitij Deshpande
  • Leonardo Morini
  • Lorenzo Sebastianelli
  • Luca Valer
  • Madhurima Chattopadhyay
  • MAIIA ALEKSANDROVA
  • Manesh Joshi
  • Maria Subia
  • Matteo Degrassi
  • Miguel Rito
  • Mirco Dindo
  • Mujeeb Adedokun
  • Myint Toe
  • Nemanja Cvjetan
  • Nino Lauber
  • Resul Gökberk Elgin
  • Rudrarup Bose
  • Saehyun Choi
  • Saurabh Mathur
  • Savitashva SHRINGI
  • Serge Nader
  • Sophia Rauscher
  • Tanmay Shirsat
  • YAGE ZHANG
  • Álvaro Magalhães
Brian von Rueden
    • 11:30 13:00
      Registration & Speed Dating 1h 30m Online

      Online

    • 13:00 14:30
      Tutorial: Christoph Weber: "Physics of active emulsions and their potential role at the origin of life" Online

      Online

      90 minute Tutorial

      Convener: Christoph Weber (MPI-PKS)
    • 14:30 15:00
      Break 30m
    • 15:00 16:00
      Plenary: Simon Alberti: "Phase separation as an organizing principle in biology and disease" Online

      Online

      Convener: Simon Alberti
      • 15:00
        Models of early and late protocells 1h

        The ease with which vesicles form from chemically simple amphiphiles argues for their existence on the prebiotic Earth. Prebiotic vesicles could have aided Darwinian evolution, in part, by protecting against parasitic sequences. However, to do so, these vesicles would have needed to be able to grow and divide in the absence of highly evolved machinery. Over the years, several such mechanisms have been elucidated. Further, prebiotically plausible vesicles can retain RNA and acquire building blocks for the copying of nucleic acids under laboratory conditions. What has been less investigated is the stability of these model protocells under more environmentally plausible conditions, and their potential role in early metabolic-like processes. As modern-day cell membranes are heavily exploited to maintain concentration gradients for the coupling of endergonic with exergonic reactions, the lack of investigation of the role of protocellular membranes in protometabolism limits our understanding of potential paths from abiotic to biotic chemistry. In this talk, progress from early protocellular studies with an emphasis on Darwinian evolution to more recent work covering early steps towards protometabolism will be discussed.

    • 16:00 17:00
      Meet the Speaker: Simon Alberti Online

      Online

    • 17:00 17:30
      Break 30m
    • 17:30 19:00
      Tutorial: Nicolas Martin: "Basic principles of coacervates as bio-inspired compartments" Online

      Online

      90 minute Tutorial

      Convener: Nicolas Martin
    • 09:00 12:00
      Interactive Tutorial: Nino Lauber, Christof Flamm: "Theoretical background on liquid-liquid phase separation" Online

      Online

    • 12:00 13:00
      Break 1h
    • 13:00 14:30
      Tutorial: Jan Peychl: "Basic concepts of light microscopy - Tips for successful imaging experiments"" Online

      Online

      90 minute Tutorial

    • 14:30 15:00
      Break 30m
    • 15:00 16:00
      Plenary: Sheref Mansy: "Models of early and late protocells" Online

      Online

      Convener: Sheref Mansy
    • 16:00 17:00
      Meet the Speaker: Sheref Mansy Online

      Online

    • 17:00 17:30
      Break 30m
    • 17:30 19:00
      Tutorial: Image Analysis: Gayathri Nadar & HongKee Moon Online

      Online

      90 minute Tutorial

    • 09:00 12:00
      Interactive Tutorial: Image Analysis: Gayathri Nadar & HongKee Moon Online

      Online

    • 12:00 13:00
      Break 1h
    • 13:00 14:30
      Tutorial: Tom Robinson: "Microfluidics: principles and applications for synthetic compartments" Online

      Online

      90 minute Tutorial

    • 14:30 15:00
      Break 30m
    • 15:00 17:00
      Panel: Academia to Innovation Online

      Online

      • 15:00
        Dr. Julia Sepulveda (ElveSys) 30m
      • 15:30
        Dr. Bruce Beutel (Dewpoint Therapeutics) 30m
      • 16:00
        Dr. Kai Simons (Lipotype GmbH) 1h
    • 17:00 17:30
      Break 30m
    • 17:30 19:00
      Tutorial: Peter Walde: "On the formation and properties of lipid vesicles” Online

      Online

      90 minute Tutorial

      • 17:30
        On the formation and properties of lipid vesicles 1h 30m

        Lipid vesicles (also called liposomes) are spherical polymolecular assemblies that form in aqueous solution upon dispersing a bilayer-forming amphiphile (for example 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, DOPC), or mixtures of amphiphiles that stabilized a bilayer (for example oleic acid and sodium oleate). Some of the phase diagrams of bilayer forming amphiphiles will be discussed for explaining the difference between a self-assembled lamellar phase and dispersed lamellar phases. Vesicles of uniform size and lamellarity usually represent dispersed lamellar phase and are only kinetically stable and not thermodynamically. For this reason, for obtaining unilamellar vesicles of a desired average size (for example 100 nm or 20 μm), a specific method of preparation needs to be applied. Therefore, vesicles are obtained by guided assembly. General concepts of some of the key methods for the preparation of unnilamellar vesicles will be presented as well as some of the properties of vesicles in terms of temperature dependency, lipid dynamics and membrane permeability.

        Walde, P.; Ichikawa, S. Enzymes inside lipid vesicles: preparation, reactivity and applications. Biomol. Eng. 2001, 18, 143−177.
        Walde, P.; Cosentino, K.; Engel, H.; Stano, P. Giant Vesicles: Preparations and Applications. ChemBioChem 2010, 11, 848−865.
        Chen, I.A.; Walde, P. From Self-Assembled Vesicles to Protocells. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol. 2010, 2: a002170.

    • 09:00 12:00
      Interactive Tutorial: Webinar Online

      Online

      • 09:00
        Nemanja Cvjetan: “Preparation of lipid vesicles” 1h
      • 10:00
        Tom Robinson: “Microfluidic Chip Protocol” 1h
      • 11:00
        Rudrarup Bose & Archishman Ghosh: “Fusion of coacervates using dual-trap optical tweezers” 1h
    • 12:00 13:00
      Break 1h
    • 13:00 14:30
      Tutorial: Kepa Ruiz Mirazo: "Compartmentalized aqueous chemistries: modelling the origins of metabolism" Online

      Online

      90 minute Tutorial

    • 14:30 15:00
      Break 30m
    • 15:00 16:00
      Plenary: Stephen Mann: "Programmable behaviour in synthetic protobiology" Online

      Online

    • 16:00 17:00
      Meet the Speaker: Stephen Mann Online

      Online

    • 17:00 17:30
      Break 30m
    • 17:30 19:00
      Panel: Career Session Online

      Online

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