Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm
Introductory Comments by GRC Staff / Welcome and Introduction from the Chairs
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm
Keynote Session: Insights into Microbial RNA Polymerase Structure, Function and Regulation
Discussion Leader: Steve Busby (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
7:40 pm - 7:50 pm
General Discussion
7:50 pm - 8:10 pm
Introduction by Discussion Leader
8:10 pm - 8:40 pm
Xiaodong Zhang (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
"Mechanisms of Transcription Initiation by the Major Alternative Sigma Factor"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm
Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm
Robert Landick (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States)
"Information Processing by RNA Polymerase: the Function and Mechanism of Transcriptional Pausing"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Structural and Mechanistic Basis of Microbial Transcription
Discussion Leader: Xiaodong Zhang (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
9:00 am - 9:25 am
Seth Darst (The Rockefeller University, United States)
"Early Intermediates in Bacterial RNA Polymerase Promoter Melting Visualized by Time-Resolved Cryo-Electron Microscopy"
9:25 am - 9:35 am
Discussion
9:35 am - 9:45 am
Konstantin Brodolin (INSERM, France)
"Mycobacterial RNA Polymerase Conformational Landscape: Clamp Motion and Sigma Subunit Docking"
9:45 am - 9:50 am
Discussion
9:50 am - 10:15 am
Richard Ebright (Rutgers University, United States)
"Structural Basis of Transcription Termination"
10:15 am - 10:25 am
Discussion
10:25 am - 10:55 am
Coffee Break
10:55 am - 11:20 am
Albert Weixlbaumer (GIE-CERBM, France)
"RNA Polymerase Cooperation with the Ribosome during Translation Initiation"
11:20 am - 11:30 am
Discussion
11:30 am - 11:40 am
Grace Hooks (Duke University, United States)
"MtrR on Steroids"
11:40 am - 11:45 am
Discussion
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Alexandra Deaconescu (Brown University, Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, United States)
"Structural Basis for Bidirectional Regulation of the RpoS General Stress Response via the RssB Protein"
11:55 am - 12:00 pm
Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:25 pm
Katsuhiko Murakami (Pennsylvania State University, United States)
"Allosteric Mechanism of Transcription Inhibition by NusG-Dependent Pausing of RNA Polymerase"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The GRC Power Hour™
The GRC Power Hour™ is designed to address diversity and inclusion in the scientific workplace by providing a safe environment for informal and meaningful conversations amongst colleagues of all career stages. The program supports the professional growth of all members of our communities, including ethnicity, race and/or gender identity by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring.
Organizers: Scarlet Shell (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States) and Megan Bergkessel (University of Dundee, United Kingdom)
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Single Molecules Studies on Microbial Transcription
Discussion Leader: Irina Artsimovitch (Ohio State University, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:55 pm
Achillefs Kapanidis (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
"In Vivo Functional Allocation and Interactions of Transcription Factors Studied Using Single-Molecule Tracking"
7:55 pm - 8:05 pm
Discussion
8:05 pm - 8:15 pm
Nusrat Qureshi (EMBL, Germany)
"Tracking Active Transcription-Translation Coupling in Real-Time"
8:15 pm - 8:20 pm
Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:45 pm
Terence Strick (École Normale Supérieure, France)
"RNA Polymerase at the Crossroads of DNA Repair and Mutagenesis"
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm
Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm
Jeff Gelles (Brandeis University, United States)
"Post-Termination Re-initiation of E. coli RNA Polymerase and its Recycling by RapA"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Transcription Control in Microbes
Discussion Leader: Carol Gross (University of California, San Francisco, United States)
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:35 am
Richard Gourse (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States)
"Regulation of Transcription Initiation by (p)ppGpp I: Inhibition"
9:35 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:10 am
Wilma Ross (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States)
"Regulation of Transcription Initiation by (p)ppGpp II: Activation"
10:10 am - 10:20 am
Discussion
10:20 am - 10:50 am
Coffee Break
10:50 am - 11:00 am
Yulia Yuzenkoa (Newcastle University, United Kingdom)
"Loss and Gain of Functions by RNA Polymerase in Cyanobacteria"
11:00 am - 11:05 am
Discussion
11:05 am - 11:30 am
Paul Babitzke (Pennsylvania State University, United States)
"Regulation of Gene Expression via RNA Polymerase Pausing and Termination"
11:30 am - 11:40 am
Discussion
11:40 am - 11:50 am
Xinyun (Sherry) Cao (University of Wisconsin Madison, United States)
"Regulation of Clostridioides difficile RNA Polymerase during Flagella Gene Expression"
11:50 am - 11:55 am
Discussion
11:55 am - 12:20 pm
Eduardo Groisman (Yale School of Medicine, United States)
"Control of Rho Transcription Termination by Phase Separation"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Microbial Transcription at Systems Level
Discussion Leader: Deborah Hinton (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:55 pm
Kathryn Ramsey (University of Rhode Island, United States)
"Control of Virulence in the Intracellular Pathogen Francisella Tularensis "
7:55 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:15 pm
Fabian Blombach (University College London, United Kingdom)
"Cbp1-Cren7 chromatinization of CRISPR arrays favours transcription from leader over cryptic promoters"
8:15 pm - 8:20 pm
Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:45 pm
Joseph Wade (Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, United States)
"The Regulatory Impact of Transcription Factor Binding Sites and Promoters Inside Genes"
8:45 pm - 8:50 pm
Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:05 pm
Julia Dierksheide (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States)
"Sequence-Based Regulation of Bacillus subtilis Rho Shapes Genome Composition"
9:05 pm - 9:10 pm
Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:25 pm
Megan Bergkessel (University of Dundee, United Kingdom)
"Transcriptional Regulatory Networks during Growth Arrest in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Microbial Transcription from Systems to Molecules
Discussion Leader: Megan Bergkessel (University of Dundee, United Kingdom)
9:00 am - 9:25 am
Finn Werner (University College London, United Kingdom)
"African Swine Fever Virus RNA polymerase transcription – from transcriptome to molecular structure"
9:25 am - 9:35 am
Discussion
9:35 am - 10:00 am
David Grainger (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
"The Unexpected Complexity of Bacterial Chromosomes"
10:00 am - 10:15 am
Discussion
10:15 am - 10:45 am
Coffee Break
10:45 am - 11:10 am
Scarlet Shell (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States)
"The sRNA B11 Controls Virulence-Associated Phenotypes in Mycobacterium Abscessus "
11:10 am - 11:20 am
Discussion
11:20 am - 11:45 am
Nikolay Zenkin (Newcastle University, United Kingdom)
"Cross-Talk between Coupled Ribosome and RNA Polymerase"
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Discussion
11:55 am - 12:20 pm
Christine Dunham (Emory University, United States)
"Flipping the Switch on Conditional Cooperativity: Transcriptional Regulation of the Toxin-Antitoxin HigBhigA Module in P. vulgaris "
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Spatial Transcription Regulation in Microbes
Discussion Leader: Ramesh Wigneshweraraj (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
7:30 pm - 7:55 pm
Orna Amster-Choder (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel)
"Revisiting Dogmas on Bacterial Cell Organization: Implications on Gene Expression"
7:55 pm - 8:05 pm
Discussion
8:05 pm - 8:30 pm
Jared Schrader (Wayne State University, United States)
"RNP Bodies Organize RNA Decay across Diverse Bacteria"
8:30 pm - 8:40 pm
Discussion
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm
Antoine Hocher (Medical Research Council, United Kingdom)
"Histone-Organised Chromatin in Bacteria"
8:50 pm - 8:55 pm
Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm
Stephanie Weber (McGill University, Canada)
"Dissecting the Function of Bacterial RNA Polymerase Condensates"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Business Meeting
Nominations for the Next Vice Chair(s); Complete the GRC Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Dates and Venue; Election of the Next Vice Chair(s)
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
RNA Regulation in Microbes
Discussion Leader: Katharina Höfer (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Germany)
9:00 am - 9:25 am
Kristine Arnvig (University College London, United Kingdom)
"Premature Termination of Transcription is Shaped by Rho and Translated uORFS in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis "
9:25 am - 9:35 am
Discussion
9:35 am - 10:00 am
Kathrin Fröhlich (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany)
"Form Follows Function: Deciphering the Role of Regulatory RNAs"
10:00 am - 10:10 am
Discussion
10:10 am - 10:40 am
Coffee Break
10:40 am - 11:05 am
Sine Lo Svenningsen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
"Adaptive Changes to the Major RNA Pools of E. coli during Nutrient Starvation"
11:05 am - 11:15 am
Discussion
11:15 am - 11:40 am
Tatiana Mishanina (University of California San Diego, United States)
"Structural Acrobatics of a Dual-Sensing Riboswitch"
11:40 am - 11:45 am
Discussion
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Charles Cooper (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
"The Impact of Transposition on Transcription in Acinetobacter Baumannii AB5075"
11:55 am - 12:00 pm
Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm
Jeremy Bird (University of Delaware, United States)
"The Functional Consequences of Transcription Initiation using Cellular Metabolites as Non-Canonical Initiating Nucleotides"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm
Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm
Alexander Yakhnin (National Cancer Institute, United States)
"Suppression of Transcription pausing in Escherichia coli by the Ubiquitous Elongation Factor NusG"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Post-Transcriptional Regulation in Microbes
Discussion Leader: Masatoshi Miyakoshi (University of Tsukuba, Japan)
7:30 pm - 7:55 pm
Katharina Höfer (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Germany)
"Surprises in RNA Biology: A New Role for an Old Coenzyme"
7:55 pm - 8:05 pm
Discussion
8:05 pm - 8:30 pm
Kai Papenfort (University of Jena, Germany)
"From Strings of Nucleotides to Collective Behaviour: Lessons from Vibrio cholerae "
8:30 pm - 8:40 pm
Discussion
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm
Simon Dove (Boston Children's Hospital, United States)
"sRNAs and their Targets in Pseudomonas aeruginosa : One for the Masses"
8:50 pm - 8:55 pm
Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm
Gisela Storz (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, United States)
"RNA-Mediated Regulation Occurring within Coding Sequences"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am
Departure