About the Workshop

The main goal of the workshop will be to discuss and integrate the very latest information from different areas of research on the transcription process, the first step that ultimately defines the expression of genes, fundamental to life in all organisms. The transcription field is a very large, diverse, and rapidly moving field and thus there is a major advantage to a focused meeting in this field.

There are clear and well demonstrated advantages of yeast as a model system for the study of the transcription process, highly conserved from yeast to human, and many crucial findings at the very frontier of this subject can be pinned to researchers from the yeast transcription field. Major findings include the composition and purification of all three RNA polymerases, the structure of the RNA polymerase II elongation complex, concepts of modularity in transcription factors and gene regulatory sequences, the characterization of the Mediator complex as a general co-factor for regulation of transcription, the ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling factors and chromatin modifying activities, the mechanism for gene silencing and activation, the coupling of transcription to downstream events such as splicing and mRNA export, as well as the definition of domains of activation and repression within the nucleus.
Finally, at present yeast remains the most ideal system for the definition of functions for orphan genes and the proteins and RNAs they encode, through its powerful genetics, which can be combined with the new technologies mentioned above. The power of such yeast studies, supported by very advanced data mining tool developments, has lead to an emerging scientific discipline referred to as “systems biology”. The objective of the workshop is to bring together leading scientists in the general field of transcription, with a strong emphasis on yeast. This should promote new research activities by bringing together scientists from different areas of research in this field and train young scientists in this field through attending cutting edge talks and discussion with leading scientists in the field, as well as presentation of their own work.

The main goal of the workshop will be to discuss and integrate the very latest information from different areas of research on the transcription process, the first step that ultimately defines the expression of genes, fundamental to life in all organisms.

The transcription field is a very large, diverse, and rapidly moving field and thus there is a major advantage to a focused meeting in this field.

There are clear and well demonstrated advantages of yeast as a model system for the study of the transcription process, highly conserved from yeast to human, and many crucial findings at the very frontier of this subject can be pinned to researchers from the yeast transcription field.

Major findings include the composition and purification of all three RNA polymerases, the structure of the RNA polymerase II elongation complex, concepts of modularity in transcription factors and gene regulatory sequences, the characterization of the Mediator complex as a general co-factor for regulation of transcription, the ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling factors and chromatin modifying activities, the mechanism for gene silencing and activation, the coupling of transcription to downstream events such as splicing and mRNA export, as well as the definition of domains of activation and repression within the nucleus.

Finally, at present yeast remains the most ideal system for the definition of functions for orphan genes and the proteins and RNAs they encode, through its powerful genetics, which can be combined with the new technologies mentioned above. The power of such yeast studies, supported by very advanced data mining tool developments, has lead to an emerging scientific discipline referred to as “systems biology”.

The objective of the workshop is to bring together leading scientists in the general field of transcription, with a strong emphasis on yeast. This should promote new research activities by bringing together scientists from different areas of research in this field and train young scientists in this field through attending cutting edge talks and discussion with leading scientists in the field, as well as presentation of their own work.

Co-Sponsors

About the Workshop