Bat Sheva Seminar
INFORMATION PROCESSING IN LIVING CELLS
Co-Sponsored by The Harold Grinspoon Foundation
Ein Gedi, Israel
March 23-28, 2008
For more information contact: veronika.butin-israeli@mail.huji.ac.il
The objective of the proposed Bat Sheva seminar is to bring together physicists and
biologists to discuss the application of physical research strategies to unravel basic
processes in biology. It is anticipated that this seminar will lead to cross fertilization and
enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration. It will introduce young members of the Israeli
scientific community, both biologists and physicists, to each other’s scientific language,
research tools and intellectual approaches. We anticipate that the seminar will stimulate
new ways of thinking about biological processes and will further collaborative
interactions between these disciplines.
This will be the first seminar of its kind in Israel. Similar seminars, although smaller
in scope, have been held in the United States and Denmark. These have been extremely
fruitful for both physicists/mathematicians and geneticists/biochemists.
This emerging field is also attracting a growing number of young Israeli investigators,
from almost all academic institutes in the country. The participation of these young
investigators and their graduate students will have an important impact on future
development of basic biology and biophysics in Israel.
This proposal has been inspired by the work of the late Dr. Amos Oppenheim, who
coordinated genetics, physics and systems analysis to achieve remarkable insights into
the behavior of a model biological system, the bacteriophage lambda.
General Plan:
The meeting is planned for March 23-28, 2008.
The meeting will be held in a small place to allow maximum interactions between
participants. It will include full morning sessions (six 30 min talks); afternoons will be
mostly free for interactions; evening session will vary: they may include two-three
talks and round table discussions. One evening will be devoted to a non-science
lecture. Israeli participants will be invited to present posters, and time for discussions
with the invited speakers will be planned.
We anticipate around 35 speakers, foreign and Israeli, and around 100 attendees.
Specific topics and potential speakers:
1. Regulatory process in unicellular organisms – genetic,
biochemical and biophysical perspectives.
a. Bacteriphage/host interactions – the lambda paradigm.
(Don Court, NIH; Max Gottesman, Columbia University, NY; David
Friedman, Univ of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Harvey Eisen, Univ. of
Washington, Seattle; Gary Gussin, Univ of Iowa, Iowa City; John
Little, University of Arizona, Robert Weisberg, NIH; Jeffrey Roberts,
Cornell University, Joel Stavans, Weizmann Inst; Oren Kobiler, Hebrew
University, presently in Princeton, NJ; Assaf Rokney, Hebrew
University).
b. Combinatorial interactions in gene expression (Mark Ptashne, SloanKettering Molecular Biology, NY; N.E. Buchler, The Rockefeller
University, Terry Hwa, USCD; Yoav Soen, presently at Stanford
University; Martin Kupiec, Tel Aviv University; Alik Honigman,
Hebrew University; Shoshy Altuvia, Hebrew University; Daniel
Kornitzer, Technion); Alexander van Oudenaarden (MIT).
c. Role of nucleic acid structure in gene expression and recombination
(Sankar Adhya, NCI; Josette Rouvière-Yaniv, Institut de Biologie
Physico-Chimique, Paris; Alison Rattray, NCI; Ed Trifonov, Haifa
University; Oleg Krichevsky, Amikam Cohen, Hebrew University).
2. Analysis of regulatory processes and development of
mathematical and physical models. (Stan Leibler, Rockefeller
University, NY; Rene Thomas, Université Libre de Bruxelles; Eric Siggia,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Uri Alon, Weizmann Inst.; Naama
Barkai, Weizmann Inst.; Erez Brown, Technion, Naama Brenner, Technion;
Natalie Balaban, Hebrew University; Nir Friedman, presently at Harvard
University, Cambridge).
3. Cell motility and movements of proteins and single
macromolecules (Marcia Goldberg, Harvard University, Cambridge; Mark
Goulian, U. Pennsylvania; Kinnneret Keren, Technion; Adi Vaknin, Hebrew
University; David Gutnick, Tel Aviv University; Michael Eisenbach, Weizmann
Inst; Steve Quake, Stanford; Sunney Xie, Harvard, Cambridge; Ido Golding,
Princeton, NJ; Gilad Haran, Weizmann Inst; Nir Gov, Weizmann Inst)
Organizing Committee:
From Israel:
Chair: Gadi Glaser. Professor, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School and
Director of the Hebrew University School of Veterinary Medicine, Chairman, Board of
the Hebrew University Veterinary Hospital. Prof. Glaser is studying bacterial genetics
and gene expression with special emphasis on gene expression under nutritional stress.
Tel: 02-6758168, glaser@cc.huji.ac.il
Uri Alon. Professor, The Weizmann Institute of Science. Prof. Alon studies biological
networks and circuits using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, aiming
to uncover general underlying principles that govern their functioning. To understand
biological networks, Prof. Alon defined "network motifs" : basic interaction patterns
that recur throughout biological networks, much more often than in random networks.
The same small set of network motifs appears to serve as the building blocks of
transcription networks from bacteria to mammals. Specific network motifs are also
found in signal transduction networks, neuronal networks and other biological and
non-biological networks.
Tel: 08-9344448 urialon@weizmann.ac.il
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/mcb/UriAlon/
Shoshy Altuvia. Associate, Professor, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School.
Shoshy Altuvia is studying structure and function of bacterial small RNAs that are
involved in regulation of gene expression in response to stress conditions.
Tel: 02-6757212, shoshy@cc.huji.ac.il
Erez Braun. Professor at the Physics Department, Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology, Haifa, Israel. Prof. Braun's research is focused on experimental study of
genetic regulatory systems and their evolution. It combines a physical approach from
dynamical systems with biological tools allowing to study gene regulation at the
system level on large populations of cells emphasizing population dynamics, genomewide expression patterns and epigentic phenomena. This research is interdisciplinary
bridges remote fields such as physics cell biology and evolution.
Tel: 04-8292879,
erez@physics.technion.ac.il
David Gutnick. Professor, Dept. Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, TelAviv University. The central focus of Prof. Gutnick's research deals with complex
pattern formation associated with colonial morphogenesis of populations of various
soil isolates. He collaborates with a research group from the Sackler School of Physics
and Astronomy at Tel-Aviv University who have modeled the dynamic processes
associated with pattern formation by these organisms. His work is centered around
unraveling the genetic basis of the process as it relates to multicellular behavior,
communal development and intercellular communication systems leading to specific
intracellular responses. For some of these organisms, he has initiated genome-wide
studies designed to elucidate specific patterning networks.
Tel: 03-640-9834, davidg@tauex.tau.ac.il
www.tau.ac.il/lifesci/departments/biotech/members/gutnick/gutnick.html
Alik Honigman. Professor, Hebrew University. Chairman of the Planning and
developing committee of the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine. His research
focuses on the regulation of gene expression in response to hypoxia. Utilizing in vitro
and in vivo non-invasive imaging methods coupled with genetic, molecular biology,
immunohistochemistry and DNA micro-array methods, he is studying specifically the
role of CREB, transcription factor in tumorogenesis.
Tel: 02-6758645, alikh@ekmd.huji.ac.il
From outside Israel:
Max Gottesman. Director, Institute of Cancer Research, Columbia University Medical
Center, New York. Prof. Gottesman studies the E. coli lambdoid phage, HK022, which
excludes phage and profoundly affects E. coli physiology. The relationship between
HK022 prophage and its host, and the multiple mechanisms by which it succeeds in
blocking superinfection, is being studied by a variety of approaches, including
genetics, biochemistry, structural biology, microarray and proteomics
Tel: +1-212-305-6900, meg8@columbia.edu
Sankar Adhya. Chief, Developmental Genetics Section, Laboratory of Molecular
Biology, NCI, NIH and Adjunct Professor, Department of Genetics, George
Washington University, Washington, DC. Prof. Adhya is studying gene regulation,
phage biology and use of phages in detection, study and treatment of diseases. He is
studying fundamental questions about developmental regulations using phage lambda
as a model. He has also developed several state-of-the-art phage technology useful in
cell biology and proteomics.
Tel: +1-301-496-2495, adhyas@mail.nih.gov
http://rex.nci.nih.gov/RESEARCH/basic/lmb/prsnl/adhya.htm
Don Court. Senior Investigator, Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology
Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes
of Health, Frederick, MD .
Prof. Court's laboratory uses E. coli and  as a model system for studying
developmental circuits, the genes that regulate  circuitry, and host/phage interactions.
Viruses of prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes use host functions to fulfill their
developmental lifecycle and respond to the environmental conditions of the infected
cell. The underlying theory is that the virus targets critical functions of the host for
viral development and those functions are part of the basic sensory system of the host
for reacting to the environment. His  studies are multifaceted. A major goal is to
describe the lysis/lysogeny decision following infection by using genetics and direct
readouts for the lytic and the lysogenic pathways.
Tel: +1-301-846-5940
court@ncifcrf.gov
Kim Sneppen. Professor, Head of center for Models of Life, Niels Bohr Institute,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Professor Sneppen develops physics models that
allow to build a quantitative understanding of computation and communication in
biological systems. His approach is to model regulative networks of living systems,
including analysis of the physical mechanism of interactions, the dynamics of
information transfer along signaling pathways, as well as modeling slower
evolutionary changes in the networks. Professor Sneppen's ambition is to quantify life
as a dynamic and evolving system composed of networks of interacting parts with a
history.
Tel: +45 35 32 53 52 sneppen@nbi.dk
http://www.nbi.dk/~sneppen/
Terry Hwa. Head, Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California
San-Diego. Prof. Hwa is applying theoretical and experimental approaches to
quantitative systems biology; gene regulation: quantitative analysis of transcriptional
and post-transcriptional control; bacterial physiology: metabolic and growth control;
design, construction, and analysis of synthetic genetic systems; molecular evolution of
transcriptional control, signaling pathways, and genetic circuits; bioinformatics:
homology & motif search, gene expression analysis, genomic evolution; molecular
biophysics: molecular recognition in protein-DNA and protein-protein interaction.
Tel: +1-858-534-7263 hwa@matisse.ucsd.edu
http://matisse.ucsd.edu/~hwa/
__________________________________________________________________