EMBO Workshop:

"Cell Interactions in Development and Disease"

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India

Application Deadline:

September 1st 2004

Cell-cell interaction is key for normal development of all tissues in multi-cellular organisms. Often, defects in cellular interactions cause diseases, particularly cancer. A large number of signal transduction pathways, such as Wnt, hedgehog, EGFR/Ras and Notch, have been elucidated, which mediate cell-cell interactions during tissue and organ development. Constitutive up regulation of these pathways lead to diseases, and hence they are the chosen targets for drug screening. Availability of genome sequences and application of modern techniques of genomics and proteomics have allowed identification of several novel components of these signal transduction pathways, which have contributed to better understanding of their regulation. This meeting is aimed at reviewing the current status in this field and explore novel possibilities of developing therapeutics against various diseases.

A specific goal of this workshop is also to foster contact between scientists throughout Europe and scientists and students in India to encourage scientific exchange. India houses several internationally well-known R&D organizations in both academia and pharma industry. In the past few decades, India has made tremendous progress in the area of Agriculture, Space research and Information technology. Under The Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), European Union is making special efforts to encourage interactions between European and Indian scientists in several areas, more significantly in the area of Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health (http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.html). In addition, the Welcome Trust (UK), DAAD (Germany) and Indo-French Center have special programs to fund to collaborative research with Indian scientists. We hope that this workshop will stimulate collaboration between European and Indian scientists.

There will be 32 invited speakers and a few short-talks, to be selected from submitted abstracts. We will accept up to 75 promising students at the advanced undergraduate, Masters and PhD level to participate in the workshop. Poster presentations and discussion groups will provide a forum in which these students will be able to make contact with the group-leaders.

The workshop is limited to 100 participants including invited speakers!