Mechanobiology Down Under

Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th May, 2018

Bronte Surf Lifesaving Club, Bronte beach, Sydney, NSW, Australia

We are pleased to invite you to the inaugural Mechanobiology Down Under meeting. There is no registration fee, however numbers are limited and registering is therefore required prior to attendance. In addition to presentations by the invited speakers listed below, both oral and poster presentations will be selected from submitted abstracts. Registration priority will be given to attendees submitting an abstract and/or who are actively engaged in mechanobiological research. Registrations will be confirmed following selection via email.

Program:

Thursday 3rd May, 2018

09:00 - 09:10 Welcome

Session 1: Cytoskeleton [Chair: Maté Biro, UNSW]

09:10 - 09:40 Jonathon Howard, Yale University, USA

09:40 - 10:10 Peter Gunning, University of New South Wales]
“Biomechanics of exocytosis”

10:10 - 10:25 Erica Sloan, Drug Discovery Biology Theme, Monash University]
“Neural signalling regulates tumour cell mechanotype: defining mechanisms to optimally target new anti-metastasis drugs”

10:25 - 10:40 Noa Lamm-Shalem [Children’s Medical Research Institute, University of Sydney]
“Actin polymerization alters nuclear architecture in response to DNA replication stress to maintain genome stability”

10:40 - 11:00 Tea and Coffee

Session 2: Mechanosensing [Chair: Kate Poole, UNSW]

11:00 - 11:30 Boris Martinac, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute

11:30 - 11:45 Sara Baratchi, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University
“Towards understanding the mechanotransduction of blood flow”

11:45 - 12:00 Amrutha Patkunarajah, University of New South Wales
“Mechanoelectrical transduction and melanoma cell migration”

12:00 - 12:15 Pietro Ridone, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute
“Cholesterol-dependent Piezo1 clusters are essential for efficient cellular mechanotransduction”

12:15 - 12:30 Jiexi Liao, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
“An intermediate state of integrin αiibβ3 mediates platelet aggregation under disturbed flow”

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch and posters

Session 3: Emerging Techniques [Chair: Joe Howard, Yale University]

13:30 - 14:00 Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, University of Queensland

14:00 - 14:30   Yu Suk Choi, University of Western Australia

14:30 - 15:00   Virgile Viasnoff, Mechanobiology Institute, NUS, Singapore

15:00 - 15:30 Tea and Coffee

Session 4: Cartilage and Bone [Chair: Shireen Lamandé, MCRI]

15:30 - 16:00 Hala Zreiqat, University of Sydney

16:00 - 16:15 Joshua Chou, University of Technology Sydney
“The mechanobiological Role of YAP1 in Osteocytes with Multidirectional Compressive Gel”

16:15 - 16:45 Kathryn Stok, University of Melbourne

16:45 - 17:00 Sophia Leung, University of Auckland, New Zealand
“Combination loading produces a chondrogenic phenotype than uniaxial loading”

17:00 - 20:30 Drinks and nibbles
Bronte Belo, 469 Bronte Rd (100m from conference venue)
Snacks provided, drinks available at the bar

19:30 - 21:30 Speakers’ dinner
Huxton’s, 145E Macpherson Street, Bronte (400m from conference venue)
(for seminar presenters only)

Friday 4th May, 2018

Session 5: Cellular Mechanobiology [Chair: Sophie Pageon, UNSW]

09:30 - 09:45 Alpha Yap, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland
“Adherens junctions, force-sensing, and epithelial homeostasis”

09:45 - 10:00 Kristopher Kilian, University of New South Wales

10:00 - 10:30 Michael Sheetz, Mechanobiology Institute, NUS, Singapore
“Tyrosine Kinases and Phosphatases as Mechanoregulators”

10:30 - 11:00 Tea and Coffee

Session 6: Mechanobiology of Cancer [Chair: Thomas Cox, Garvan Institute]

11:00 - 11:30 Paul Timpson, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

11:30 - 11:45 Matt Govendir, EMBL Australia, University of New South Wales
“A firm grip: biomechanics of the cytotoxic synapse”

11:45 - 12:15 Michael Samuel, Centre for Cancer Biology, University of South Australia
“New insights into the biochemical interplay between the tumour and its stroma that regulates the mechanical properties of the ec”

12:15 - 12:30 Kendelle Murphy, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch and posters

Session 7: Membranes and Receptors [Chair: Matt Baker, UNSW]

13:30 - 14:00 Katharina Gaus, EMBL Australia, University of New South Wales

14:00 - 14:15 Qian Su, Institute for Biomedical Materials & Devices, UTS
“Single molecule and super resolution microscopy for intracellular membrane dynamics”

14:15 - 14:45 Rob Parton, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland
“Mechanical protection and signalling by caveolae”

Discussion about founding the Australian Society of Mechanobiology
14:45 - 15:00 Sara Baratchi, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University

15:00-18:00 BBQ and poster session
Food provided, drinks available at the bar

Invited speakers: