International Conference on Current Topics of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research
11 September 2018
The “European Wnt Meeting” of the Collaborative Research Center 1324 is expected to attract more than 300 participants
The “Mechanisms and Functions of the Wnt Signaling Pathway” Collaborative Research Center of Heidelberg University invites to an international conference from 12 to 14 September 2018. At the center of the event are the so-called Wnt proteins, which control central processes in embryonic development, cell differentiation and tumor formation. More than 30 speakers from Germany and abroad will report on current findings on the function of this protein family and the associated cellular signaling pathway. “Wnt proteins have been known for more than 30 years, however their molecular mechanisms are still largly unclear,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Holstein of the Center for Organismal Studies, spokesman for the 1324 CRC. Around 300 participants are registered so far at the “European Wnt Meeting 2018”, half of them junior scientist.
As Prof. Holstein explains, Wnt proteins are released from cells and bind as so-called ligands to receptors on the cell surface of cells in their vicinity. Different ligand-receptor interactions transmit specific signals to networks of downstream intracellular signaling pathways. “Wnt proteins and their dependent molecular mechanisms have emerged very early in the evolution of animals and they also play an important role in humans. As universal developmental factors in the animal kingdom, Wnt proteins regulate the formation of organs and nerve tissues and are involved in the formation of body axes in the embryo,” says the Heidelberg biologist. If errors occur in this temporally and spatially finely tuned pattern of the signalling networks, serious disease, e.g. cancer, might be the result.
As part of this international conference, current issues of an central area for developmental biology and stem cell and cancer research will be presented. The “European Wnt-Meeting 2018” takes place at the German Cancer Research Center.
