Symposium Health and Evolution
Version 060414
Organizing committee: Thijs Kuiken (Dept. Virology), Jon Laman (Dept. Immunology), Frank van Vliet (Managing Director of the Postgraduate School Molecular Medicine), Erasmus MC Rotterdam. Main advisor: dr. Randolph M. Nesse, Ann Arbor, MI.
Background
Although
most biomedical scientists are aware of the basic concepts of evolution, not
many consider the potential impact of evolution on human diseases or approach
their research on these diseases from an evolutionary perspective. Health
scientists are accustomed to dealing with mechanistic aspects of disease, the
“what” and the “how”. A recently
established field, called “Darwinian medicine” or “evolutionary medicine”,
deals with the “why”. Although the application of evolutionary thinking to
medical problems has yielded abundant new insights in the past 15 years,
evolutionary medicine is not yet widely known.
Wednesday (evening) April 26th at 6 pm also discussion & welcoming dinner
with all speakers and organizers.
The Erasmus MC Postgraduate
School Molecular Medicine (MolMed) is a full part of
the Erasmus MC Rotterdam. The School has two main activities: the organization
of education for PhD students, and the stimulation of cooperation between
several departments with regards to translational research. Website: www.molmed.nl.
Aim
and teaching goals of the Symposium
§
To introduce scientists working on human disease to the
concepts of evolutionary medicine
§
To provide examples of
how research in important human diseases have benefitted
from an evolutionary perspective
§
To discuss how
evolutionary medicine might contribute to future research on pathogenesis,
diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of human disease.
Target
audience
§
Graduate students and postdocs of the research schools in Rotterdam;
§
All other researchers of our
schools, and others from other schools/universities.
We
expect an audience of 100 – 150 participants for the Symposium.
One
of the founders of evolutionary medicine, Dr. Randolph Nesse, will introduce
its concepts and give an overview of its relevance to human health. We will use
four themes (ageing, cancer, obesity, infection) to illustrate
how an evolutionary perspective has improved our knowledge of these important
health problems, or could do so in future.
An internationally recognized expert will give an overview of each theme, followed by two speakers concentrating on their current research in this field. Each theme will be concluded with a panel discussion on the merits of evolutionary medicine for research of the current theme. The aim of the Symposium is, to induce as much as possible discussion with and between the speakers and the audience. Dr. Nesse will wrap up the symposium with a presentation on the future prospects of evolutionary medicine for human health research.
Meet-the-Speaker
lunches for young researchers
To allow optimal interactions between speakers and young researchers, Meet-the-Speaker lunches will take place on Thursday and Friday. A maximum of eight young researchers per speaker can sign up on the website or at the meeting itself for an informal round table lunch with individual speakers.
Registration
and fees
Registration can be done via our website: www.molmed.nl. Deadline for subscription is Sunday April 16th, 24 h.
The subscription fee of the Symposium is € 200. All PhD students and Post docs get a discount of 75% and pay € 50. All participants from Erasmus MC & MolMed and MGC get a discount and pay only € 25 for the costs of lunches and drinks. The dinner buffet, lecture and drinks & snacks afterwards on Thursday evening cost € 25 extra. Companies can inquire for participation and sponsoring.
Fees can be
paid upon a bill. Advance payment on bank account: 43.47.01.408 / Erasmus MC, MolMed 2120, Health & Evolution (IBAN code bank: NL86ABNA0434701408;
SWIFT code bank: ABNANL2A). Fees can also be paid upon an invoice
that will be distributed at registration. Those participants are requested to
pay cash, as much as possible. (No pin or credit card.)
Fees are for the Wednesday evening and both
days. There will be no refund for a skipped day. Our
cancellation policy is: you can cancel Sunday April 23rd at the
latest. Later cancellation will not be
accepted, but you are allowed to send a substitute.
Venue
Congress centre Engels, Stationsplein 45, Beatrix Room (1st Floor);
next to Central Station entrance, tel. 010-411 9551
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Preparation discussion with dinner with all speakers and organizers.
Welcome address by organizers and discussion of meeting goals 18.00- 20.00
Evening lecture by Ab Osterhaus:
Evolutionary aspects of emerging infections
Erasmus MC Rotterdam 20.00-
21.30
Registration and
coffee 08.30-
09.00
Ab Osterhaus, Welcome & opening address 09.00-
09.10
Erasmus MC
Rotterdam
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
1st theme: Ageing
Chairperson: Thijs Kuiken; co-chair Aart-Jan van der Lely
Main speaker: David Gems: New insights into the biology
of
ageing from functional genomics 10.00-11.00
University College London
Coffee break 11.00-11.30
Jan H. Hoeijmakers: DNA
damage and its impact 11.30-12.00
on cancer and ageing
Erasmus MC Rotterdam
Cornelia van Duijn: Genetics
of neurodegenerative disorders 12.00-12.30
Erasmus MC Rotterdam
Discussion with speaker panel &
Randolph Nesse (moderator) 12.30-13.00
Lunch break 13.00-14.30
Chairperson: Jon Laman; co-chair Ellen Zwarthoff
Main speaker: Mel Greaves: A Darwinian eye view of cancer 14.30-15.30
Chester Beatty Laboratories, London
Riccardo Fodde: Darwinian selection and stem cells in colorectal
15.30-16.00
tumorigenesis: why are we vulnerable to cancer?
Erasmus MC Rotterdam
Tea break 16.00-16.30
Cees Cornelisse: The cancer evolution paradigm: 16.30-17.00
some
unanswered questions LUMC
Discussion with speaker panel &
Randolph Nesse (moderator) 17.00-17.30
Drinks – ice breaker – dinner buffet 17.30-19.30
Evening lecture
by Edwin Cuppen: MicroRNAs:
a
driving force in evolution?
Functional
Genomics Group, Hubrecht Lab, Utrecht 19.30-
20.30
After the presentation: drinks & snacks 20.30-21.30
Chairperson: Jon Laman; co-chair Wouter de Herder
Main speaker S. Boyd Eaton: Obesity, body composition
and
health: an evolutionary perspective 09.00-10.00
Emory University, Atlanta
Coffee break 10.00-10.30
Eric Sijbrands: Hypercholesterolemia and
evolution 10.30-11.00
Erasmus MC Rotterdam
Jaap Seidell: Epidemiology of obesity 11.00-11.30
Free University (VU), Amsterdam
Discussion with speaker forum &
Randolph Nesse (moderator) 11.30-12.00
Lunch break 12.00-13.30
Chairperson: Thijs Kuiken
Main speaker: Eddy Holmes: Infectious diseases and evolution 13.30-14.30
Penn State University, University Park
Ron Fouchier: Evolution of influenza A virus 14.30-15.00
Erasmus MC, Rotterdam
Tea break 15.00-15.30
Maria Yazdanbaksh: Hygiene hypothesis: the
role of worms 15.30-16.00
LUMC,
Discussion with speaker panel &
Randolph Nesse (moderator) 16.00-16.30
Speakers-Organisers meeting 17.00-18.00
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Further actions on
Conference Summary
-
Evolution network in
USA-international
-
Teaching
implications/next meeting Sarah Elton
-
…
Optional: informal dinner for speakers and organizers 18.00- …..
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