Interplay of Chromatin Architecture and Transcription Regulation (X8)
March 30-April 2, 2025 | Fairmont Banff Springs, Banff, AB, Canada
Seychelle Vos, John T. Lis and Luca Giorgetti
Scholarship Deadline: Jan. 24, 2025 | Abstract Deadline: Mar. 7, 2025 | Early Registration Deadline: Feb. 20, 2025
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of August 23, 2025 8 AM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Sunday, March 30, 2025
4:00–8:00 PM Registration Riverview Lounge
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer Riverview Lounge
Monday, March 31, 2025
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Alberta/New Brunswick
8:00–9:00 AM Welcome and Keynote Address (Joint) Cascade Ballroom
  * Karen Adelman, Harvard Medical School
Session Chair
 
  Patrick Cramer, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chromatin and Transcription
 
9:00–11:30 AM Mechanisms of Gene Control and Epigenetic Regulation (Joint) Cascade Ballroom
  * Seychelle Vos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Session Chair
 
  Dirk Schübeler, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
Controlling CpG islands
 
  François Fuks, University of Brussels
RNA Modifications in Health and Disease
 
  Lacramioara Bintu, Stanford University
High-Throughput Measurements of Activation and Repression Domains from Human Proteins
 
  Havva Ortabozkoyun, University of Miami / HHMI
Short Talk: Members of an Array of Zinc Finger Proteins Specify Distinct Hox Chromatin Boundaries
 
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Riverview Lounge
9:50–9:55 AM Award Recipient Acknowledgement Cascade Ballroom
11:30–1:00 PM Poster Setup Alberta/New Brunswick
11:30–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Alberta/New Brunswick
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 1: Research presentations selected from abstract submissions Alhambra
  * Luca Giorgetti, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
Session Chair
 
  Julia Schaepe, Stanford University
Thermodynamic Principles Link in vitro Transcription Factor Affinities to Single-molecule Chromatin States in Cells
 
  Allison James, Harvard Medical School
Structural Basis of Human CHD1 Nucleosome Recruitment and Pausing
 
  Blaine Bartholomew, MD Anderson Cancer Center
SWI/SNF Regulates Nuclear Condensates in an eRNA Dependent Manner
 
  Zachary A Drum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mechanisms of Phase-separation Driven Chromatin Looping in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
 
  James Kentro, Brown University
Conserved Transcription Factors Coordinate Synaptic Gene Expression Through Repression
 
  Daniel Ibrahim, Berlin Institute of Health
Enhancer-promoter Specificity Mediated by the Promoter-proximal Region
 
  Wen Yan, Pfizer
Identification Of A Selective And Orally Bioavailable BPTF PROTAC With Anti-Tumor Activity In SWI/SNF Mutant Lung Cancer
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Break with Hot Chocolate, Firepits & Mountain Views Conservatory Terrace
5:00–6:45 PM Enhancer-Promoter Communication Alhambra
  * Lacramioara Bintu, Stanford University
Session Chair
 
  Thomas G Graham, University of California, Berkeley
Single-molecule Live Imaging of Transcriptional Regulatory Complex Interactions using Proximity-assisted Photoactivation (PAPA)
 
  Aukje Marieke Oudelaar, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Science
Regulation of Gene Expression in the 3D Genome
 
  Luca Giorgetti, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
Dynamics of Chromatin Loops and the Consequence on Transcription
 
  Mervenaz Koska, Stanford University
Short Talk: Understanding the Mechanism of Promoter Competition
 
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites Alberta/New Brunswick
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 1 Alberta/New Brunswick
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Alberta/New Brunswick
8:00–11:00 AM Mechanisms of Chromatin Transcription Alhambra
  * Xavier Darzacq, University of California, Berkeley
Session Chair
 
  Yanhui Xu, Fudan University
Structural Basis of Transcription Initiation on Chromatin
 
  Stephen Buratowski, Harvard Medical School
Single molecule microscopy reveals unexpected features of RNApII transcription
 
  Karen Arndt, University of Pittsburgh
Chromatin and Transcription Elongation
 
  Carl Wu, Johns Hopkins University
The biogenesis and regulation of chromatin accessibility for dynamic transcription complexes
 
  Sarah Hainer, University of Pittsburgh
Short Talk: Widespread Impact of Nucleosome Remodelers on Transcription at Cis-regulatory Elements
 
  Michael J Guertin, UConn Health
Short Talk: Mechanisms of Direct cis Repression by a Transcriptional Activator
 
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Riverview Lounge
11:00–1:00 PM Poster Setup Alberta/New Brunswick
11:00–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–2:30 PM Career Roundtable (Joint) Alhambra
  Paola Scaffidi, European Institute of Oncology
Group Leader
 
  Gromek Smolen, Foghorn Therapeutics
VP, Head of Biology
 
  Evan J. Worden, Van Andel Institute
Assistant Professor
 
  Michael S Werner, University of Utah
Assistant Professor
 
  Ivanka D Kamenova, Nature Protocols
Senior Editor
 
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Alberta/New Brunswick
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Riverview Lounge
5:00–7:00 PM Mechanisms and Dynamics of Genome Folding Alhambra
  * Jennifer E. Phillips-Cremins, University of Pennsylvania
Session Chair
 
  Tineke L Lenstra, Netherlands Cancer Institute
The Kinetics of Transcription Factor Target Search and Activation in Live Cells
 
  Xavier Darzacq, University of California, Berkeley
Quantifying the Molecular Transactions that Control Transcription in Live Cells
 
  Jennifer E. Phillips-Cremins, University of Pennsylvania
Genome Looping and its Consequences on Transcription
 
  Noura Maziak, Imperial College; LMS MRC
Short Talk: Extensive 3D Genome Reorganization Foreshadows Zygotic Genome Activation in Drosophila
 
  Erika Anderson, UCSF
Short Talk: Enhancers Regulate Transcription without Acting as Loading Sites for Extruding Cohesin
 
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites Alberta/New Brunswick
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 2 Alberta/New Brunswick
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Alberta/New Brunswick
8:00–11:00 AM Pausing Dynamics/Transcription Termination Alhambra
  * Karen Arndt, University of Pittsburgh
Session Chair
 
  Roberto Vazquez Nunez, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Short Talk: Remote Presenter - GATO-Seq Uncovers RNA Polymerase II Promoter-Proximal Pausing Dynamics
 
  John T. Lis, Cornell University
The Regulatory Interplay of Enhancers, Facilitators, and Promoters – A Case Study in a Native Chromatin Context
 
  Seychelle Vos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Pausing and Release into Productive Elongation
 
  Lidia Vasilieva, University of Oxford
Kinases, Phosphatases and their Role in Transcription Termination
 
  Benjamin R Sabari, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Short Talk: Gain-of-function RNA Polymerase II Partitioning is a Shared Feature of Diverse Oncogenic Fusions
 
  William Lai, Cornell University
Short Talk: High-resolution Mapping of the Pol II and Pol III Regulatory Complexes under Transcriptional Perturbation
 
  Katerina Kraft, Stanford
Short Talk: Enhancer Activation from Transposable Elements in Extrachromosomal DNA
 
9:15–9:35 AM Coffee Break Riverview Lounge
11:00–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
2:30–4:15 PM Symposia Spotlight 2: Research presentations selected from abstract submissions Alhambra
  * John T. Lis, Cornell University
Session Chair
 
  Kalon J Overholt, MIT
High-resolution Footprints in Chromatin Architecture Enable Discovery of Transcription Factor Nano-assemblies
 
  Michael Quezada, Harvard Medical School
High-throughput Characterization of Interactions between Transcription Factors and Intrinsically Disordered Regions with Optical Pooled Screening
 
  David Gross, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
Identification of Regulators that Drive Dynamic, Heat Shock-Induced Genome Restructuring
 
  Katherine Fleck, University of Connecticut
Novel Gene Evolution and 3D Chromatin Organization
 
  Matt Franklin, Stanford University
Human Satellite 3 DNA Encodes Megabase-scale Transcription Factor Binding Platforms
 
  Djem Kissiov, University of California, Berkeley
Decoupling Transcriptional Memory from Chromatin Structure through Analysis of Single Chromatin Fibers
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Riverview Lounge
5:00–5:45 PM Keynote Address (Joint) Cascade Ballroom
  * Seychelle Vos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Session Chair
 
  Yang Shi, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Oxford Branch
Chromatin Regulation and Cancer
 
5:45–7:15 PM Transcription and Epigenetics in Disease (Joint) Cascade Ballroom
  * Kristian Helin, The Institute of Cancer Research
Session Chair
 
  Paola Scaffidi, European Institute of Oncology
Epigenetics and Functional Intratumor Heterogeneity
 
  Gromek Smolen, Foghorn Therapeutics
Targeting Chromatin Modulators with Therapeutic Degraders
 
  Tony Kouzarides, Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge
Targeting RNA Modifying Enzymes in the Treatment of Cancer
 
7:15–7:30 PM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) (Joint) Cascade Ballroom
7:30–8:30 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites Alberta/New Brunswick
Thursday, April 3, 2025
12:00–11:59 PM Departure