Scientific report

Blebs and Cell Cortex Mechanics in Cell Movement
International Workshop -- October 6 - 8, 2008

Scientific Coordinators:
Frank Jülicher (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems Dresden, Germany)
Ewa Paluch (IIMCB, Warsaw, Poland and Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics Dresden, Germany)
Erez Raz (Institute for Cell Biology, University of Münster, Germany)

Organisation:
Katrin Lantsch (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems Dresden, Germany)

The international workshop took place from the 5th of October until the 8th of October 2008 at the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden. The workshop included about 70 participants out of whom 25 delivered oral presentations and a bit over 30 participants presented their work in form of a poster.

The workshop focused on the mechanisms of bleb formation and cortex mechanics in the context of cell motility, apoptosis and cell division. The 15 invited speakers provided the scientific core of the meeting, which included the main figures in the field. The participation of leading researchers such as Michael Sheetz (Columbia University, New York), Eric Sahai (Cancer Research UK, London), L. Mahadevan (Harvard, Cambridge), Fred MacKintosh (Vrije Univ, Amsterdam) and Guillaume Charras (UCL, London), among others is an evidence for the significance and the interest in this emerging topic.

A unique feature of this workshop was the representation for a wide range of approaches, methodologies and model systems for studying blebs and cortex mechanics. Presentations of analysis of mathematical and physical properties of blebs, membrane and cortex combined with description of results from the developmental and cell biology fields encouraged interesting discussions.

A proportionally large number of young participants presented their results in talks. The poster session provided yet another opportunity for the others to discuss their findings and receive advice from more senior researchers.

This international meeting allowed the bleb community to meet for the first time, exchange ideas and establish interdisciplinary interactions and collaborations. It is expected that this successful workshop will be followed by similar events where the issue of blebs and cortex mechanics are discussed.

For further information please e-mail to: cellmo08@mpipks-dresden.mpg.de