June 16th 20215th Boston Area Drosophila Meeting | The Whitehead Institute

Virtual Meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To view a PDF version of the schedule, click here.

12:30– 1:55 pm Session 1: Concurrent Sessions

NeurobiologyModerator: Jens Rister, University of Massachusetts Boston
12:30 – 12:45 pmWelcoming Remarks
Ruth Lehmann, Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12:45 – 1:00 pmKimberly Madhwani, O’Connor-Giles lab, Brown University
Neurodevelopmental role of a tRNA regulator underlying intellectual disability
1:00 – 1:15 pmPaul Marcogliese, Bellen lab, Baylor College of Medicine
Loss of IRF2BPL impairs neuronal maintenance through excess Wnt signaling
1:15 – 1:30 pmChad Sauvola, Littleton lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Drosophila Tomosyn regulates tonic/phasic release differences and is required for presynaptic homeostatic potentiation
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Mohamed Adel, Griffith lab, Brandeis University
Establishing an ex vivo model for aversive associative learning in fruit flies
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Sabrina Clemens, Olsen lab, Harvard Medical School
A Drosophila model for validating gene-environment interactions in Parkinson’s disease
1:30 – 1:45 pmAne Martin Anduaga, Kadener lab, Brandeis University
Thermosensitive alternative splicing of timeless senses and mediates temperature adaptation in Drosophila
1:45 – 1:55 pmTorrey Mandigo, Walker lab, Mass General Hospital
Drosophila modeling of a human sleep/chronotype GWAS locus highlights a conserved role for the N-glycosylation pathway in the sleep-epilepsy axis
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Matthias Schlichting, Rosbash lab, Brandeis University
Dopaminergic input to the Drosophila clock neuron network promotes sleep
GametogenesisModerator: Vicki Losick, Boston College
12:30 – 12:45 pmWelcoming Remarks
Yukiko Yamashita, Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
12:45 – 1:00 pmJianjun Sun, University of Connecticut
A novel platform utilizing Drosophila ovulation for non-hormonal contraceptive screenings
1:00 – 1:15 pmMadhumala Sadanandappa, Bosco lab, Darmouth College
Parasite-activated neuronal circuits trigger Drosophila germline modification
1:15 – 1:30 pmAri Dehn, Losick lab, Boston College
Modeling age-induced polyploidy in Drosophila
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Hammed Badmos, Cagan lab, University of Glasgow
The role of SAGA components in cell migration and epithelial integrity
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Diane Lebo, McCall lab, Boston University
Molecular regulation of clearance by nonprofessional phagocytes in the Drosophila ovary
1:30 – 1:45 pmStacey Hanlon, University of Connecticut
Female meiotic drive of B chromosomes in D. melanogaster
1:45 – 1:50 pmJiaxin Gong, Xiang lab, UMASS Medical School
Shear stress activation of TrpA1 underlies mechanical nociception in Drosophila Melanogaster

2:00 – 3:00 pm Keynote Speaker Address

Flies to study disease associated variants and pathogenic mechanisms

Hugo J. Bellen, D.V.M., Ph.D., is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the March of Dimes Professor in Developmental Biology and Charles Darwin Professor in Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in the Departments of Molecular and Human Genetics, and Neuroscience, and the Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

3:00 – 3:15 pm Break

3:15 – 4:00 pm Workshops

Workshop 1
Genetic/Genomic Technologies
Host: Norbert Perrimon, Harvard Medical School, Broad Institute
Workshop 2
Modeling Human Disease
Host: Hugo Bellen, Baylor College of Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
3:15 – 3:26 pm Hongjie Li, Baylor College of Medicine
Update on the Fly Cell Atlas
China Byrns, Bonini lab, University of Pennsylvania
Glial AP1 promotes early traumatic brain injury recovery but chronically drives tauopathy
3:26 – 3:37 pm Julie Agapite, Harvard University
What’s new at FlyBase
Sayantanee Paul, Veraksa lab, University of Massachusetts Boston
ERK-mediated phosphorylation of Capicua, a key regulator of MAPK signaling in development and disease
3:37 – 3:48 pm Justin Bosch, Perrimon lab, Harvard Medical School
Proximity labeling: Application to the fly blood secretome
Guang Lin, Bellen lab, Baylor College of Medicine
Altered ceramide metabolism and endolysosomal pathway in the pathogenesis of INAD/PARK14
3:48 – 4:00 pm Jun Xu, Perrimon lab, Harvard Medical School
New Nanotag-Nanobody tools for in vivo studies
Liping Wang, Bellen lab, Baylor College of Medicine
Glucosylceramide is generated by active neurons and transported to glia for lysosomal degradation by Glucosylceramidase (GBA)

4:00 – 4:45 pm Round Table Discussions

Career Trajectories in Drosophila ResearchToward Inclusive Diversity: Steps we can take in our labs, classrooms, and institutions
Hosts:
Alexis Hill
College of the Holy Cross
How to find a position in academia

Kristin White
Mass. General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
The pros and cons of a job in academia

Susan Gerbi
Brown University
Defining your strengths and weaknesses,
job shadowing and networking
Host:
Michele Markstein
Princeton University
University of Massachusetts Amherst

4:45 – 5:00 pm Break

5:00 – 6:00 pm Session 2: Concurrent Sessions

MorphogenesisModerator: Erica Larschan, Brown University
5:00 – 5:15 pmMukulika Ray, Larschan lab, Brown University
Maternal pioneer factor CLAMP regulates sex-specific transcript diversity in early Drosophila embryos
5:15 – 5:25 pmJacob Malin, Hatini lab, Tufts University
Sidekick alternately interacts with contractile and protrusive effectors to control epithelial morphogenesis
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Mary Ann Collins, Martin lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Actin Interacting Protein 1 promotes tissue fusion via intercellular force transmission during Drosophila gastrulation
5:25 – 5:40 pmKevin Cabrera, Wunderlich lab, University of California, Irvine
Transcriptional mechanisms controlling immune priming in Drosophila melanogaster
5:40 – 6:00 pmClosing Remarks
Ruth Lehmann, Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology