Who should attend?
This symposium is designed for students and scientists studying small RNAs and chromatin from different perspectives – plant, animal, genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cell biological. To enhance the link between small RNA research in plants and industrial development, representatives from biotechnology firms are also invited for interaction with scientists and students. The meeting will highlight recent advances and identify emerging questions to be addressed for dissection of small RNA biology and epigenetic regulation.
The format will provide opportunities for:
- Exploring current findings in-depth
- Engaging in one-on-one discussions with international experts
- Sharing resources and establishing collaborations
- Highlighting important questions and infusing new ideas for attacking unanswered questions
- Brainstorming and building relationships at informal social gatherings
Sessions
The symposium is organized into five sessions:
- Small RNA biogenesis and action mechanisms;
- Small RNA function in development;
- Small RNA function in stress and other physiological processes;
- Transcriptional silencing and DNA methylation;
- Transcriptional silencing and histone modifications.
Deadlines
Deadline for Registration Payment: December 15, 2006
Deadline for Abstract Submission: November 30, 2006
Deadline for Refunds (20% Service Charge): December 15, 2006
Deadline for Hotel Reservation: December 15, 2006
Dates and Locations
The symposium will be held at the beautifully remodeled Riverside Convention Center in the heart of downtown Riverside. Located at the end of Riverside’s downtown pedestrian mall, it is adjacent to both the Historic Mission Inn and the Riverside Marriott Hotel.
Riverside Convention Center
3443 Orange Street
Riverside, California 92501
The symposium will begin at 1:00 pm on Thursday, January 18, 2007, and end at 5:30 pm on Saturday, January 20, 2007.
Registration Fees
The registration fee includes an Opening Reception (Thursday, January 18), two continental breakfasts, two lunches, and morning and afternoon refreshments. The fees are as follows:
| Registration Type | Fee (to be received before December 15, 2006) |
| Faculty | $500 |
| Industry Representative | $750 |
| Postdocs/Students | $250 |
About the Organizers
Jian-Kang Zhu, Shou-Wei Ding and Xuemei Chen are faculty members at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) as well as active participants in the Center for Plant Cell Biology (CEPCEB) in the UCR Institute for Integrative Genome Biology. Dr. Zhu, who joined the UCR faculty in 2003, is well known for his work on plants’ responses to various stresses. Recently, his group has linked small RNAs to stress biology by cloning large numbers of stress-induced small RNAs, by defining the roles of miRNAs in stress responses, and more importantly by uncovering a novel and potentially universal mechanism through which plants use nat-siRNAs to deal with abiotic and biotic stresses. He is the director of the UCR Institute for Integrative Genome Biology. Dr. Ding is the major driving force behind the definition of gene silencing as an antiviral mechanism in animals. His group was the first to demonstrate that animal viruses encode RNA silencing suppressors. His group recently demonstrated at the whole organism level that the RNA silencing pathway is crucial for viral defense in the fly. Dr. Xuemei Chen recently joined the UCR faculty and continues the investigation on small RNA biogenesis and on the role of miRNAs in plant development. Dr. Chen was one of the first to isolate miRNAs from plants, to analyze the role of miRNAs in plant development, and to define the major players in miRNA biogenesis.