Wissenschaftliche Veranstaltungen COS-Symposien
Unsere internationale COS-Symposienreihe zielt darauf ab, hochkarätige Wissenschaftler zu versammeln, die an vordersten Front der Organismischen Biologie arbeiten. Die Symposien finden halbjährlich statt und ziehen in der Regel mehr als 300 Teilnehmer an. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die Auswahl der Referenten gelegt, die nicht nur anerkannte Führungspersönlichkeiten und Pioniere auf ihrem Gebiet sind, sondern auch enthusiastische Vortragende, die in der Lage sind, ihre Forschung einem breiteren Publikum von jungen und älteren Wissenschaftlern zu vermitteln.
2024: Life in Context — Organismal sensing and adaptation in the natural environment
July 22-23, 2024
“Life has a prodigious ability to adapt. Organisms interact with their environment at levels from molecules to cells, tissues, and behaviour and over time scales from milliseconds to years. Consequently, organisms are not just defined by their genomes, but equally by their environment.”
Speakers: Liam Dolan (Keynote) (GMI, Austria), Tonni Grube Andersen (MPI-PZ, Germany), Nicole Dubilier (MPI-MM, Germany), Josefa González (SCIC, Spain), Ilona Grunwald Kadow (University of Bonn, Germany), Mitsuyasu Hasebe (NIBB, Japan), Kazuo Inaba (SMRC, Japan), Magdalena Julkowska (Boyce Thompson Institute, USA), Francesco Licausi (University of Oxford, UK), Rosa Lozano-Durán (University of Tübingen, Germany), Thomas Richards (University of Oxford, UK), Flora Vincent (EMBL, Germany), Hanh Vu (EMBL, Germany)
2022: Building functionality - the relevance of form across biological scales
Oct. 13-14, 2022
„How structure, shape & architecture guide functionality is a fundamental open question in biology that expands through all biological scales: From the structure of the DNA to the morphology of organs. In this symposium, we aim to highlight common and differential features emerging from the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ architecture in the animal and plant kingdoms. We will also discuss how to engineer biological models to generate novel functions.“
Speakers: Monica Bettencourt-Dias (Oeiras, Portugal), Kerstin Goepfrich (Heidelberg, Germany), Julie Gray (Sheffield, UK), Lazaro Centanin (Heidelberg, Germany), Linnea Hesse (Freiburg, Germany), Gáspár Jékely (Exeter, UK), Edwige Moyroud (Cambridge, UK), Toshihiko Fujimori (Okazaki, Japan), Manu Prakash (Stanford, USA), Verena Ruprecht (Barcelona, Spain)
2022 Symposium Downloads
Genetics 2019: Old Questions and New Frontiers
June 6-7, 2019
Genes determine form and function of all organisms. Since the discovery of genetics by Gregor Mendel circa 1866, researchers from all over the world have been working to unravel how genes control the development, physiology, and behaviour of living things. Thanks to a number of technological breakthroughs in the last ten years, modern-day genetic research has enjoyed a Renaissance.
New methods of genome sequencing have allowed us to decipher the genes of numerous species, and highly precise gene scissors now make it possible to replace individual sequences in the code of life. Because of environmental destruction and climate change, more and more species are under threat or being forced out by more robust species. To monitor and mitigate these ever-faster changes, we need a deep understanding of the genetic foundations of adaptation and evolution.
This year’s COS Symposium covers the entire spectrum of modern genetics and aims to build a bridge from the genetic network that controls the function of individual cells to the genetic diversity in natural populations. Speakers will also explore approaches to the analysis and treatment of diseases and the enormous challenges posed by computer-assisted analysis of genetic data.
Detlef Weigel, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen, will deliver a public evening lecture entitled “Climate in Transition – Plants in Transition” to provide insights into modern genome research.
This year’s COS Symposium will be held on June 6 and 7 in the lecture hall of the building located at Im Neuenheimer Feld 360.
Speakers: Brenda Andrews (Toronto), Eileen Furlong (Heidelberg), Stacy Harmer (Davis), Martin Jonikas (Princeton), Claudia Köhler (Uppsala), Trudy Mackay (Raleigh), Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid (Vienna), Duncan Odom (Heidelberg), Elaine Ostrander (Bethesda), Nikolaus Rajewsky (Berlin), Korbinian Schneeberge (Cologne), Diethard Tautz (Plön), Detlef Weigel (Tübingen)
2019 Symposium Downloads
Genetics 2019: Public lecture
Climate in Transition - Plants in Transition
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Detlef Weigel, Max Planck Institut for Developmental Biology, Tübingen
Date: Thursday, June 6, 2019, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Place: Lecture Hall, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, 69120 Heidelberg
We are living through a dramatic change in the world‘s climate. But what does that mean for wild plants and animals? Do they stand any chance at all of adapting to changing environmental conditions in so short a time?
In his lecture, Detlef Weigel will first explain the basics of evolutionary research, including why evolution is always about compromise in order to balance contradictory demands. He will then move on to his own work and discuss predicting if and how plants might survive in the climate of the future. Finally, Mr Weigel will briefly discuss how new methods of genome editing may make it possible to modify crops to withstand the rapid change in our climate.
One important conclusion is that species should not be viewed as a rigid entity, but that their genetic diversity – and the limits of their intra-species diversity – must be taken into account.
