Thank you all who presented at our BSMB Autumn meeting and to all who attended (unfortunately online yet again), an excellent meeting. Great science, great talks, lovely posters and lots of great interaction, I really enjoyed it!

Until we meet (hopefully in person) again!

6^th SEPTEMBER 2021

12:30-12:45 – Registration

12.45-1.00 OPENING – Kasia Piróg (Newcastle University, UK) – Welcome and Introduction to the platform

1.00-2.40 RARE DISEASES OF CONNECTIVE TISSUES (chaired by Kasia Piróg and Blandine Poulet)

1.00-1.35 Inês Alves (ANDO, Portugal) – The matrix for research collaborations – The patient expertise in rare disease

1.35-1.50 Brendan Norman (University of Liverpool, UK) – Altered bone metabolism in the rare inherited disease alkaptonuria

1.50-2.05 Eleanor Feneck (King’s College London, UK) – A functional deficit in connective tissue fibroblasts contribute to the cellular and molecular disease pathology in Radial Dysplasia

2.05-2.40Matthew Warman (Harvard University, USA) – What we’ve been doing during the pandemic: studying serotonin effects on bone, removing lubricin domains using iGONAD, and evaluating the effect of killing articular chondrocytes in newborn mice

2.40-4.00 TEA AND COFFEE Posters + AGM

4.00-5.40 RARE DISEASES OF CONNECTIVE TISSUES II (chaired by Kim Midwood and Peter Bell)

4.00-4.35 Brendan Lee (Baylor College of Medicine, USA) – Insights into matrix alterations in tendon homeostasis and repair by studying Osteogenesis Imperfecta

4.35-4.50 Jessica Llewellyn (University of Pennsylvania, USA) – EFEMP1 affects structure and function of the extrahepatic bile duct

4.50-5.05 Helen Dietmar (Newcastle University, UK) – Matrix metalloproteinase 9 –a potential biomarker for COMPopathies

5.05-5.40 Francesco Ramirez (Mount Sinai, USA) – Why Marfan syndrome’s patients are disproportionally taller?

5.40-5.55 Kim Midwood – John Couchman: Vote of thanks

6.00-7.00 ONLINE SOCIAL

7^TH SEPTEMBER 2021

10.00-12.40 RARE DISEASE MECHANISMS (chaired by David Wilkinson and Francesca de Sousa Brito)

10.00-10.35 Laurence Legeai-Mallet (INSERM) – New therapeutic approaches for achondroplasia

10:30-11.00 TEA AND COFFEE (Posters)

11.00-11.35 Su Lwin (King’s College London, UK) – Emerging therapies for epidermolysis bullosa

11:35-11.50 Emily Shorter (University of Liverpool. UK) – A Systematic Meta-Analysis and Multi-Source Information Network Identify Novel Osteoarthritis-Associated Genes

11.50-12.05 Franziska Lausecker (University of Manchester, UK) – Identification of an altered matrix signature in kidney ageing and disease

12.05-12:40 Alison Gartland (Sheffield University, UK) – Primary Bone Cancer from Dinosaurs to Dogs

12.40 –1.15 Lunch break

1.15-2.15 BSMB EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER AWARD (chaired by James Whiteford)

2.15-3.55 DRUG REPURPOSING AND PATIENT PERSPECTIVE (chaired by James Whiteford and Emily Shorter)

2.15-2.50 Rachel Lennon (University of Manchester, UK) – Kidneys, basement membranes and Alport syndrome

2.50-3.05 Tonia Vincent (Oxford University, UK) – Musculoskeletal manifestations of Marfan Syndrome including long bone length and kyphosis are rescued by losartan treatment during adolescent growth in mice

3.05-3.20 Juliette Hughes (University of Liverpool, UK) – Distribution of ochronotic pigment in the connective tissues of an alkaptonuria cadaver

3.20-3.55 James Gallagher (University of Liverpool, UK) – What we learned about the ECM whilst developing a therapy for the rare genetic disease AKU

4.00-4.15 PRESENTATION OF PRIZES & CLOSE OF MEETING (chaired by Andrew Pitsillides, Kim Midwood and Kasia Piróg)

Registration: July 29-20, 2021

https://bsmb.ac.uk/meetings/extracellular-matrix-rare-disease/

Abstract end date: Aug. 27, 2021

Rare diseases are defined as conditions that affect fewer than 1:2,000 people; however, as a group of conditions they are quite common, affecting 1 in 17 individuals, which in the UK equates to 3.5 million people. Mutations in genes encoding the extracellular matrix components, cell-matrix adhesion complexes and signalling pathways are all implicated in rare disease. Moreover, rare diseases share common molecular mechanisms that can be targeted in order to find affordable treatments that can be applicable to common diseases and age-related conditions as well.

The meeting is hosted by Dr Katarzyna Pirog from the University of Newcastle.

For program details click here

Registration will be free for BSMB members, and the registration fee is £30 for non- students and £10 for students who are not members.

Sponsor

The meeting is sponsored by The Company of Biologists

From the organisers:

“The French Society for Cell Biology (SBCF) has been successful in organizing a biennial international conference series Building the Cell covering the challenges of multidisciplinary approaches combining imaging, biochemistry, physics, bioinformatics and screening to question various aspects of life.

For their 4^th biennial international meeting, SBCF and the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB) organise a joint meeting for the first time.

BSCB has a history in organising joint meetings mainly with the Biochemical Society and the British Society for Developmental Biology.

This new endeavour aims to bring together cell biologists from both neighbouring countries and beyond for scientific exchange and networking.

This meeting is aimed at early career researchers and as such they will take priority in the selection process!“

Abstract submission deadline 31st July 2021

For more information, click here