THE FIRST SINO-GERMAN BINATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CYANOBACTERIA

 From the Genomic Blueprint to Application: Cyanobacteria in Fundamental Research, Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology

at

Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

September 25-29 2019, Wuhan, China

Among all groups of prokaryotes, few have played a bigger role than cyanobacteria on the global scale. The appearance of cyanobacteria, at least 2.8 billion years ago, brought a radical transition of the Earth's environment as the oxygen they produced from their photosynthetic activity turned the anoxic world into an oxic one. According to one proposed scenario, the accumulation of oxygen due to oxygenic photosynthesis may have triggered a planetary-scale glaciation, known as the snowball Earth, at the early paleoproterozoic period (2.3-2.2 Ga) because of the oxidation of the greenhouse gas methane. The increase in the atmospheric level of oxygen also marked a major transition in the evolutionary history of life, as many organisms which had evolved under anoxic environment, were forced to retreat into anoxic environments, to further evolve to adapt to the new one by adopting oxygen-driven metabolic networks, or to become extinct. Therefore, cyanobacteria constitute a key to our understanding on the early history of biological and environmental evolution, the bioenergitic and metabolic processes and their evolution. Such studies are also relevant because of the increasing concern on the global climate changes.

Cyanobacteria adopt a quite simple life style, using water as a source of reducing power, light as energy, and CO₂ as carbon source. This simple life style contrasts with their extraordinary success on the Earth. Their success can be attributed to multiple factors; their diversity and flexibility in bioenergetic and metabolic processes must have contributed to their successful colonization of various habitats. Sometimes, they are so successful that they pose real problems to environmental safety, and human and animal health because of the bloom formation and the toxins produced by some cyanobacteria. Many cyanobacteria can also fix N₂, a process that is normally incompatible with oxygenic photosynthesis because of the high sensitivity of the nitrogenase complex to oxygen. To make it possible, these cyanobacteria either separate nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis according to oscillation of the circadian rhythm, or by sequestrating the nitrogenase complex into a particular cell type, a heterocyst.

Thus, the characteristics of cyanobacteria make them interesting models for the studies covering diverse disciplines such as genomics and evolution, biophysics, biochemical complexes and energy processes, cell biology, environmental biology, geology, etc. Consequently, the techniques and approaches used by cyanobacteriologists to address different scientific problems have also been diverse, often at the interface of biology, chemistry, physics and informatics. The proposal of this symposium reflects these diversities, offering a rich source for scientific exchanges. 

The past years have witnessed an enormous increase in our knowledge on fundamentals of photosynthetic metabolism and regulatory networks as a basis for synthetic biology, opening the door for application of cyanobacteria as green cell factories for sustainable production of clean energy and feedstock.

The aim of this symposium is to bring researchers from China and Germany to have close communication on a specific topic, reflecting the development of the field and highlighting emerging themes. Some researchers from third countries are also invited to attend. The meeting is intended as a synopsis of the state of the art in basic research on bioenergetics, metabolism, regulation and biodiversity of cyanobacteria, as well as the newest developments cyanobacterial biotechnology and synthetic biology.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Organizers

Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS

Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, CAS

Executive Organizers

Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, CAS

Key Laboratory of Biofuels, CAS

Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology

Chair

Prof. Jindong Zhao (Peking University)

Acting Chairs

Prof. Chengcai Zhang (Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS)

Prof. Xuefeng Lu (Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, CAS)

Committee Members

Prof. Yonghong Bi (Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS)

Prof. Qiang Wang (Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS)

Prof. Danxiang Han (Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS)

Prof. Chunxiang Hu (Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS)

Dr. Tao Zhu (Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, CAS)

Dr. Quan Luo (Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, CAS)

PROGRAMMES

General Program

   Registration: before Aug 19, 2019

   Arriving: Sep 25, 2019

   Symposium: Sep 26-28, 2019

Symposium Topics

   Synthetic Biology and Rational Cell Design

   Cell Development and Multicellularity

   Photosynthetic Metabolism

   Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Environment

REGISTRATION 

Please finish the attached “Registration Formula” and send it back to cyano@qibebt.ac.cn before 5 of July, 2019 for the confirmation of your attendance of conference.

There is No registration fee for this conference. All attendees need to cover their own international/internal travelling and local accommodation costs.

ORAL PRESENTATION & POSTER

If you want to share your studies by oral and/or poster presentations in the conference, please also state your will in the attached “Registration Formula”. However, due to the limited time, the oral presentations will be selected by the conference committee. All oral and poster presentations are asked to be prepared in English.

EXHIBITION

The conference is open for the exhibition of any cyanobacteria/algae-related product and research instrument. PAID-USE spaces will be provided. Please contact us for more information (see below contacts).

SUGGESTED HOTEL

Important: please book hotel as early as possible since the room availability will be very limited in September in Wuhan.

   Gallery.F Hotel, Songzhu Road 8, Chuhehan Street, Zhongbei Road, Wuhan

武汉玉丰国际大酒店，武汉市武昌区中北路楚河汉街松竹路8号

   Hongyi Hotel, No.136 Donghu Road, Wuhan

武汉弘毅大酒店，武汉市武昌区东湖路136号

   Jingjiang Inn Select, No. 62-12 Hongshan Road, Wuhan

锦江之星-水果湖店，武汉市武昌区洪山路62号

How to get to Institute of Hydrobiology from hotels