Session 1: Membrane composition
Moderator: Ben de Kruijff Is there a universal theory for lipid organization?
How can we study functional lipids in cells in time and in space?
What do we need to know about the relationship of lipid structural diversity to lipid domain formation in order to control lipid domain formation?
What can membrane proteins tell us about the lipid bilayers of the cell?
What can we expect from membrane protein proteomics?
Session 2: Lipid-protein interactions
Moderator: John Silvius Which 'bulk' properties of membrane lipids really matter to membrane protein function, and how finely tuned must these properties be to support cellular function?
In what ways, and to what extent, can membrane proteins modulate the organization of their local environment to support membrane function?
How do integral membrane proteins integrate into lipid bilayers in vivo?
Session 3: How do you build a compartment?
Moderator: Marino Zerial What are the biophysical principles underlying membrane compartmentalization? What is the role of membrane compartmentalization in intracellular signalling? Can membrane and organelle organization be modelled in time and space?
What is a compartment and what are the biochemical requirements for building it?
What do we need to know to explain how cargo is sorted and delivered to its correct compartment?
Session 4: Technology: what do we need to know and can we measure it?
Moderator: Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz What techniques (both fluorescence- and non-fluorescence-based) can help us detect membrane microdomains and measure affinities of protein-lipid and protein-protein interactions within membranes?
How can nanodevices and biomimetic systems (such as GUVs and nanotubes) help us develop more realistic and testable models of biological membranes?
What can single-molecule observations of protein dynamics in living cells tell us about the organization, function and activity of membrane domains?
Session 5: Membrane organization at the cellular level
Moderator: Kai Simons Do membrane interactions and microdomains contribute to the control of protein trafficking?
The Golgi complex: an unusual example of membrane organization - what is it good for?
Membrane microdomains as a principle in organizing membrane traffic; what can studies of lipid-anchored and lipid-binding proteins tell us about membrane compartmentalization and dynamics?
Session 6: Signal transduction in the light of membrane structure
Moderator: Lew Cantley How might membrane proteins influence the localization of important signalling lipids, such as phosphoinositides?
How might relocalization of receptors to a new membrane compartment enhance, terminate or otherwise alter signalling?
What is the influence of membrane lipids on receptor signalling?
Session 7: Membrane pathophysiology and disease
Moderator: Richard Anderson
What roles do lipid rafts and alternative trafficking play in cancer?
How do chemical modifications of cholesterol or changes in cholesterol levels contribute to pathophysiology?
What is the role of lipid domains in Alzheimer's disease?
