Hidden Cell, Dark Genome meeting sheds light on pioneering cell and genetic research Over 140 attendees were present at the John McIntyre Centre in Edinburgh on 3-4 April to join this meeting focusing on previously understudied areas of genetics and cell biology that are now revealing their importance.The meeting was organised by Wendy Bickmore, Adele Marston, Shipra Bhatia, Owen Davies, Georg Kustatscher and Hannah Long, representing both the MRC Human Genetics Unit (based at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer) and the Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology.The MRC Human Genetics Unit focuses on the ‘dark genome’ – non coding regions of DNA that make up over 98% of the human genome - that does not contain protein-coding genes. The Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology is a cross-disciplinary team which aims to develop technologies providing new insight into cellular biology, overcoming technological barriers to make ground-breaking findings. These two research centres are unified by their exploration of fundamental biological processes centred on the building blocks of life – and all the remaining hidden and unexplored aspects of their roles in the cell. Bringing together these fields makes a lot of sense; we are all motivated by a quest for the unknown! Scientific quests have always been like this. Professor Manuel Irimia, UPF Barcelona Keynote speaker Kirsty Uttley, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, presenting at the Hidden Cell Dark Genome conference The Hidden Cell, Dark Genome meeting was launched by a public lecture from Dr Kat Arney, author of ‘Rebel Cell’ and ‘Herding Hemingway’s Cats’. Dr Arney also attended the meeting and reflected “on how advances in technology can transform understanding … getting us closer to answering the questions we were asking 10 years ago … and taking us to the next level of understanding.” Hannah Long, Shipra Bhatia, Wendy Bickmore and Kat Arney The three sessions on the first day of the meeting focussed on uncovering new biological insight into the function of DNA, RNA and proteins – each featuring an exciting keynote presentation. Emily Wong (UNSW Sydney) focussed on her work using zebrafish to study enhancer evolution – including an elegant experiment examining the activity of regulatory sequences from sea sponges that were able to drive reporter expression at specific times and tissues during zebrafish development. Manuel Irimia (UPF Barcelona) spoke about microexons – 3 to 27 nucleotides long – that can rewire protein-protein interactions, specifically in neuronal cells. Sean Munro (LMB) discussed the value and importance of studying proteins of unknown functions, or the ‘unknome’. This session really highlighted the diversity of gene expression regulation, isoform-specific functions and the huge amount that remains unknown about the genes in our genome. There is still so much to be explored in the ‘Dark Genome’. On the second day, the meeting expanded to asking questions at different scales in cellular biology – on the one hand looking at cellular diversity and the different roles and functions that cells have – and on the other examining atomic structures to fully comprehend cellular processes. Both of these approaches have been greatly enabled in recent years by impressive technological advances. Sarah Teichman (University of Cambridge) presented an effort from the Human Cell Atlas project – which aims to map all human cell types – to profile cell types involved in embryonic skeletal formation to improve our understanding of bone, cartilage and joint development. Christine Cucinotta (Ohio State University) gave a Fragile Nucleosome special lecture on how epigenetic changes “wake up” quiescent, or dormant, cells. The final keynote presentation came from Wolfgang Baumeister (Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry) on using cryo-electron tomography to examine macromolecular structures in cells to “see the whole picture”. Keynote speaker Wolfgang Baumeister of the Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry, Munich The poster flash talks and networking talks were a highlight of the meeting, enabling early career researchers to highlight their exciting scientific discoveries, and facilitating connection-building across fields and areas of expertise. Poster prizes were awarded to three early career researchers for their excellent scientific communication and exciting research projects. Feedback to the organisers was extremely positive, that it was an exciting event that brought together diverse fields all focused on exploring the diversity and complexity of gene regulation, gene products and cellular function. There were many queries about whether the meeting would be repeated, and a desire to meet again to hear the next updates and discoveries in these exciting and currently hidden aspect of biology – perhaps in a couple of years’ time. LinksHidden Cell Dark Genome conferenceThe Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology Apr 02 2025 - Apr 04 2025 Hidden Cell, Dark Genome meeting sheds light on pioneering cell and genetic research The Hidden Cell Dark Genome conference was held from 3-4 April, preceded by a public lecture on 2 April by writer and broadcaster Dr Kat Arney entitled ‘Enter the Dark Genome’. Hidden Cell Dark Genome conference
Hidden Cell, Dark Genome meeting sheds light on pioneering cell and genetic research Over 140 attendees were present at the John McIntyre Centre in Edinburgh on 3-4 April to join this meeting focusing on previously understudied areas of genetics and cell biology that are now revealing their importance.The meeting was organised by Wendy Bickmore, Adele Marston, Shipra Bhatia, Owen Davies, Georg Kustatscher and Hannah Long, representing both the MRC Human Genetics Unit (based at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer) and the Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology.The MRC Human Genetics Unit focuses on the ‘dark genome’ – non coding regions of DNA that make up over 98% of the human genome - that does not contain protein-coding genes. The Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology is a cross-disciplinary team which aims to develop technologies providing new insight into cellular biology, overcoming technological barriers to make ground-breaking findings. These two research centres are unified by their exploration of fundamental biological processes centred on the building blocks of life – and all the remaining hidden and unexplored aspects of their roles in the cell. Bringing together these fields makes a lot of sense; we are all motivated by a quest for the unknown! Scientific quests have always been like this. Professor Manuel Irimia, UPF Barcelona Keynote speaker Kirsty Uttley, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, presenting at the Hidden Cell Dark Genome conference The Hidden Cell, Dark Genome meeting was launched by a public lecture from Dr Kat Arney, author of ‘Rebel Cell’ and ‘Herding Hemingway’s Cats’. Dr Arney also attended the meeting and reflected “on how advances in technology can transform understanding … getting us closer to answering the questions we were asking 10 years ago … and taking us to the next level of understanding.” Hannah Long, Shipra Bhatia, Wendy Bickmore and Kat Arney The three sessions on the first day of the meeting focussed on uncovering new biological insight into the function of DNA, RNA and proteins – each featuring an exciting keynote presentation. Emily Wong (UNSW Sydney) focussed on her work using zebrafish to study enhancer evolution – including an elegant experiment examining the activity of regulatory sequences from sea sponges that were able to drive reporter expression at specific times and tissues during zebrafish development. Manuel Irimia (UPF Barcelona) spoke about microexons – 3 to 27 nucleotides long – that can rewire protein-protein interactions, specifically in neuronal cells. Sean Munro (LMB) discussed the value and importance of studying proteins of unknown functions, or the ‘unknome’. This session really highlighted the diversity of gene expression regulation, isoform-specific functions and the huge amount that remains unknown about the genes in our genome. There is still so much to be explored in the ‘Dark Genome’. On the second day, the meeting expanded to asking questions at different scales in cellular biology – on the one hand looking at cellular diversity and the different roles and functions that cells have – and on the other examining atomic structures to fully comprehend cellular processes. Both of these approaches have been greatly enabled in recent years by impressive technological advances. Sarah Teichman (University of Cambridge) presented an effort from the Human Cell Atlas project – which aims to map all human cell types – to profile cell types involved in embryonic skeletal formation to improve our understanding of bone, cartilage and joint development. Christine Cucinotta (Ohio State University) gave a Fragile Nucleosome special lecture on how epigenetic changes “wake up” quiescent, or dormant, cells. The final keynote presentation came from Wolfgang Baumeister (Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry) on using cryo-electron tomography to examine macromolecular structures in cells to “see the whole picture”. Keynote speaker Wolfgang Baumeister of the Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry, Munich The poster flash talks and networking talks were a highlight of the meeting, enabling early career researchers to highlight their exciting scientific discoveries, and facilitating connection-building across fields and areas of expertise. Poster prizes were awarded to three early career researchers for their excellent scientific communication and exciting research projects. Feedback to the organisers was extremely positive, that it was an exciting event that brought together diverse fields all focused on exploring the diversity and complexity of gene regulation, gene products and cellular function. There were many queries about whether the meeting would be repeated, and a desire to meet again to hear the next updates and discoveries in these exciting and currently hidden aspect of biology – perhaps in a couple of years’ time. LinksHidden Cell Dark Genome conferenceThe Discovery Research Platform for Hidden Cell Biology Apr 02 2025 - Apr 04 2025 Hidden Cell, Dark Genome meeting sheds light on pioneering cell and genetic research The Hidden Cell Dark Genome conference was held from 3-4 April, preceded by a public lecture on 2 April by writer and broadcaster Dr Kat Arney entitled ‘Enter the Dark Genome’. Hidden Cell Dark Genome conference
Apr 02 2025 - Apr 04 2025 Hidden Cell, Dark Genome meeting sheds light on pioneering cell and genetic research The Hidden Cell Dark Genome conference was held from 3-4 April, preceded by a public lecture on 2 April by writer and broadcaster Dr Kat Arney entitled ‘Enter the Dark Genome’.
