Keystone Symposia

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This meeting took place in 2020



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Tissue Plasticity: Preservation and Alteration of Cellular Identity (EK6)


Organizer(s) Ophir Klein, Ramesh A. Shivdasani and Stacey S. Huppert
October 5—7, 2020
Virtual at your computer • , CO USA
Abstract Deadline: Sep 14, 2020
Scholarship Deadline: Oct 3, 2020
Discounted Registration Deadline:

Part of the Keystone Symposia Global Health Series, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Summary of Meeting:
Cellular plasticity, the ability to acquire new identities or adopt alternative fates, occurs in normal physiology and disease states. Researchers are just beginning to understand how plasticity contributes to homeostasis and regeneration in the setting of tissue injury. Alterations in cell fate can be harnessed to treat disease, but uncontrolled plasticity can destabilize cell commitment and contribute toward neoplasia. The cellular and molecular underpinnings of cellular plasticity provide insights into disease processes and enable new therapies. This conference will explore the diverse mechanisms that underlie plasticity in different tissues and contexts. By bringing together leading scientists in stem cell, developmental, regenerative, and cancer biology, this interdisciplinary conference will highlight common principles and unique features of cellular plasticity in different tissues and examine the therapeutic potential of this process. The conference represents a unique opportunity for researchers in diverse fields to visit evolving concepts in cellular plasticity and the molecular mechanisms and physiological consequences of altered adult cell identity in vivo. While the topic has been included marginally at other conferences (i.e., conferences on stem cell biology, regeneration, epigenetics, and cancer) only this Keystone Symposia conference, first held in 2019, has focused on cellular plasticity across mammalian tissues. This conference will assemble speakers from diverse disciplines and organ systems to identify cross-cutting themes and provide a forum for investigators to explore common underlying mechanistic principles and therapeutic potential.

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Conference Program    Print  |   View meeting in 12 hr (am/pm) time


The meeting will begin on Monday, October 5 with . Conference events conclude on Wednesday, October 7 with a from to , followed by . We recommend return travel on Thursday, October 8 in order to fully experience the meeting.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 5

08:00—08:10
Welcoming Remarks (Organizers) (8am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

08:10—08:40
Keynote Address (8:10am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Ophir Klein, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Session Chair

Magdalena D. Zernicka-Goetz, University of Cambridge, UK
Developmental Plasticity, Cell Fate Specification and Morphogenesis in the Early Mouse and Human Embryo

08:40—10:45
Plasticity in the Early Embryo (8:40am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Daniel Klimmeck, EMBO Journal, Germany
Session Chair

* Ramesh A. Shivdasani, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, USA
Session Chair

Angela Nieto, Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, CSIC-UMH, Spain
Cell Plasticity in Development and Disease

Coffee Break

Aaron M. Zorn, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA
A Single Cell Road Map of Foregut Progenitors Identity

Tatjana Sauka-Spengler, University of Oxford, UK
Heads or Tails: Differential FoxD3 Autoregulation Controls Developmental Switch Between the Neural Crest and Neuromesodermal Progenitors

Shashank "Sha" Gandhi, California Institute of Technology, USA
Short Talk: Reprogramming Axial Level Identity to Rescue Neural-Crest-Related Congenital Heart Defects

10:45—11:00
Panel Discussion with Speakers (10:45am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Daniel Klimmeck, EMBO Journal, Germany
Session Chair

* Ramesh A. Shivdasani, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, USA
Session Chair

12:30—13:30
Career Roundtable (12:30pm Denver/Mountain Time Start)

Shingo Kajimura, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, USA

Juanita L. Merchant, University of Arizona College of Medicine, USA

Sara Lin, NHLBI, USA

13:30—15:00
Poster Session 1 (1:30pm Denver/Mountain Time Start)

15:00—17:45
Tissue Plasticity from Invertebrates to Vertebrates (3pm Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Misty Riddle, Harvard Medical School, USA
Session Chair

* Kathleen DelGiorno, Vanderbilt University, USA
Session Chair

Xin Sun, University of California, San Diego, USA
Fate Choices in Lung Development

Leanne Jones, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Ablation and Replacement of Fly Stem Cells: Plasticity in the Epithelium

Yingzi Yang, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, USA
Skeletal Stem Cells and GPCR Signaling

Coffee Break

Benjamin Ohlstein, UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA
Amitosis and Plasticity

Ophir Klein, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Plasticity and Regeneration in the Intestinal Crypt

Bo Wang, Stanford University, USA
Short Talk: Genetic Chimerism Causes Regeneration Defects in the Planarian

17:45—18:00
Panel Discussion with Speakers (5:45pm Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Misty Riddle, Harvard Medical School, USA
Session Chair

* Kathleen DelGiorno, Vanderbilt University, USA
Session Chair


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6

08:00—10:45
Epigenetics, Transcription and Plasticity (8am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Michal Shoshkes-Carmel, Hebrew University, Israel
Session Chair

* Frederic Michon, Hopital Saint Eloi, France
Session Chair

Shingo Kajimura, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, USA
Molecular Control of Fat and Muscle Plasticity

Valerie Horsley, Yale University, USA
All Aboard: Adipocyte Function in Tissue Repair

Ramesh A. Shivdasani, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, USA
Tissue Plasticity in a Human Disease: The Enigma of Barrett's Metaplasia

Coffee Break

Elena Ezhkova, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
Chromatin Regulation of Skin Development and Skin Stem Cells

Emily Zion, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Short Talk: The Role of Histone Inheritance in Establishing Distinct Cell Identities

Farnaz Shamsi, Joslin Diabetes Center, USA
Short Talk: Vascular Smooth Muscle-Derived Adipocyte Progenitors are the Cellular Origin of Cold-Induced Brown Adipocytes

10:45—11:00
Panel Discussion with Speakers (10:45am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Michal Shoshkes-Carmel, Hebrew University, Israel
Session Chair

* Frederic Michon, Hopital Saint Eloi, France
Session Chair

13:30—15:00
Poster Session 2 (1:30pm Denver/Mountain Time Start)

15:00—17:45
Inflammation, Renewal and Plasticity (3pm Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Nadya L. Lumelsky, NIDCR, National Institutes of Health, USA
Session Chair

* Ophir Klein, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Session Chair

Juanita L. Merchant, University of Arizona College of Medicine, USA
Gut Inflammation in Disease

Indira U. Mysorekar, Washington University School of Medicine, USA
Regulation of Urothelial Plasticity and Regeneration

Stacey S. Huppert, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, USA
Hepatic Epithelial Cell Plasticity

Coffee Break

Shruti Naik, New York University Langone Health, USA
Eavesdropping on the Conversation between Immune and Epithelial Stem Cells during Tissue Repair

Edward E. Morrisey, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Epithelial Plasticity in Development and Tissue Regeneration

17:45—18:00
Panel Discussion with Speakers (5:45pm Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Nadya L. Lumelsky, NIDCR, National Institutes of Health, USA
Session Chair

* Ophir Klein, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Session Chair


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7

08:00—10:45
Cancer Stem Cells and Their Niche (8am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Jonathan Saxe, Cell Press, USA
Session Chair

* Stacey S. Huppert, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, USA
Session Chair

Emmanuelle Passegué, Columbia University, USA
How Blood Ages

Valerie M. Weaver, University of California, San Francisco, USA
Role of the Extracellular Matrix in Niche Construction

Jason C. Mills, Washington University, USA
Differentiated Cells Undergo Metaplasia and Tumorigenesis via Paligenosis

Coffee Break

Ben Z. Stanger, University of Pennsylvania, USA
EMT and Cellular Plasticity in Cancer

Tianliang Sun, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Switzerland
Short Talk: The Plasticity of Liver Epithelial Cells during Homeostasis, Regeneration and Tumor Formation

Adam Pietrobon, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Canada
Short Talk: Loss of TSC1 or TSC2 Drives Lineage-Infidelity and Hamartoma Formation in a Renal Organoid Model of Angiomyolipoma

Rashmi Mishra, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, USA
Short Talk: Autophagy Drives in vivo Transdifferentiation

10:35—10:50
Panel Discussion with Speakers (10:35am Denver/Mountain Time Start)

* Jonathan Saxe, Cell Press, USA
Session Chair

* Stacey S. Huppert, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, USA
Session Chair

10:50—11:00
Closing Remarks (Organizers)


*Session Chair †Invited, not yet responded.



We gratefully acknowledge the generous grant for this conference provided by:


National Institutes of Health

Grant No. 1R13DE030021-01

Funding for this conference was made possible (in part) by 1R13DE030021-01 from the National Institutes of Health. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention by trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.


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