#DROS2013 Day 1

Despite stop-and-go DC traffic, we made it to the hotel just in time to check in and make the keynote address by Nobel laureate Jules Hoffmann, who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Bruce Beutler and Ralph Steinman. His talk was about innate immunity, the topic which won him his Nobel Prize. Like all multicellular organisms, flies have innate immune defenses, where infection by a bacterium or fungus causes the fly to produce antimicrobial molecules. In fact, the molecular mechanisms of innate immunity are highly conserved across animals, who inherited an ancient innate immunity toolkit. While humans and sea anemones have very similar innate immune systems, flies and hydras turn out to have simpler versions due to gene loss (Hoffmann called this field "Evo-Immuno.")

After the opening session I met a couple of my PI's friends at the opening mixer/dinner.

Tomorrow and sporadically during the conference I will be presenting a poster (#200B) called "Roles for testis-enriched ATP synthase subunits in mitochondrial shaping during Drosophila spermatogenesis." If you're at the conference, stop on by when the even number or B group is on duty. As the title suggests, I'm looking at how subunits of ATP synthase that are expressed in the testis influence the packaging of mitochondria required for sperm motility. It turns out they're pretty important.

Tomorrow morning are the plenary (invited) talks and posters in the afternoon.

Photos are mine.