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Highlights from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Cancer Epigenetics Meeting
San Juan, Puerto Rico (January 20-23, 2010)
Contributed by Brian Gloss - Garvan Institute of Medical Research
It was the who’s who of epigenetics in cancer. Peter Laird, Peter Jones, Jean-Pierre Issa, Sue Clark, Andrew Feinberg to name but a few. The first conference was held 13 years previously with just a handful of scientists in Puerto Rico and, fittingly, 400 people packed into the Hilton in San Juan in 2010 to hear 55 cutting edge talks, see hundreds of posters and catch up with colleagues.
My personal highlights included Alex Meissner’s discussion comparing whole genome methylation profiling, Peter Jones’ sobering reminder that epigenetic gene regulation goes way beyond the transcript and Kenneth Nephew’s demonstration of the usefulness of epigenetic therapies in re-sensitising chemoresistant solid tumours to chemotherapy.
All in all, the AACR special conference on Cancer Epigenetics was an intense, exciting and inspiring 3 ½ days.
Download the final conference program
Highlights from the 31st Lorne Genome Conference
Lorne, Australia (February 14-16, 2010)
Contributed by Saul Bert - Garvan Institute of Medical Research
and generous applause. Caused in equal measure by the beauty of nature
and those that study her finest creation, the mysterious genome.
Now in its 31st year, the Lorne Genome conference has had the world's finest epigeneticists, evolutionary biologists, plant geneticists and all other flavour of molecular biologists grace its program; this year being no exception. Talks that struck notable chords came from John Stamatoyannopoulos on the creation of genomic and epigenomic maps, John Rinn on the discovery of large non-coding RNAs as mediators of genomic repression and Michael Stratton who spoke of sequencing the cancer genome and the secrets that lie therein. Novel talks were abundant; unique presentations were given by Hiroki Ueda on the transcriptional programs that regulate circadian clocks, as well as Alan Cooper who spoke of analyzing SNP data from extinct families of bovids.
While the conference was set in the wonderful Mantra Resort (who knew learning of the genome needed so much tennis and wine tasting!), surely the most engaging event was the gala dinner speech given by Julian Wells Medal awardee Merlin Crossley. Talking of his experiences at the Lorne conference over the years, he wove a whimsical tale of epigenetics and the twelve apostles, of glow worms and of transcription factors; truly, it was a delight to be a part of the 31st Lorne Genome conference!
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