DMF & CUSO Microbiology’s Impromptu: Origins of Life

Outline of the symposium:

– Pre‐biotic era: Cornelia Meinert, University Nice Sophia Antipolis, France

– RNA world: Hannes Mutschler, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany

– Bottom‐up approaches – Towards primitive cells: Dieter Braun, Ludwig‐Maximilians‐University Munich, Germany and Sebastian Maerkl, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

– Top‐down approach – Minimal bacterial cells: Romain Mercier, Universite Aix‐Marseille, France and Jörg Stülke, Göttingen, Germany

– Archaeal and Eukaryotic evolution – symbiosis: Siv Andersson, Uppsala University, Sweden

There is also a pre-meeting on the 17th of November, starting at 16:00h where PhD students can meet in an informal setting two of the established scientists presenting on Friday (Prof. Stülke and Prof. Andersson). They will talk about career development, career planning and which roads they took to get to their current positions. Participating students to this pre-meeting also have the opportunity to increase their communication skills and are expected to give a 10 min chalk talk about their own research which we will then discuss. Food and drinks will be provided. There are only a limited number of spots available for the pre-symposium (first come, first served basis). 

Note that the Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidental (CUSO) is also supporting this event so registration for the impromptu is also highly recommended for PhD students (also if you are just planning to go to the symposium). By registering you can receive ECT credits and also participate in the pre-symposium. You can find the registration link here: http://www.cuso.ch/activity/?p=1456&uid=3291