Programme
August 25th
2.00-3.00 pm – Registration
3.00-3.15 – Welcome
3.15-4.00 – Opening lecture: Dan S. Tawfik, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel – “The coevolution of proteins and their cofactors – some ancient finger prints and missing links”
Session I: Biotin, Thiamine, Pterin and SAM
Chair: Tadhg Begley and Dan S. Tawfik
4.00-4.40 – Keynote lecture: Tadhg Begley, Texas A&M University College Station, U.S.A. – “Radical SAM enzymes in cofactor biosynthesis”
4.40-5.10 – Yilin Hu, University of California, U.S.A. – “Tracing the interstitial carbide of the nitrogenase cofactor"
5.10-5.40 – Aurora Martinez, University of Bergen, Norway – “Pharmacological modulation of the tetrahydrobiopterin-dependent aromatic amino acid hydroxylases (AAAHs)”
5.40-5.50 – Paola Laurino, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel – “Methyltransferase: a case study for cofactor engineering”
5.50-6.00 – Louis Luk, Cardiff School of Chemistry, U.K. – “Locating dynamic effects by studying enzyme isotopic hybrids”
6.30-8.00 – Get-together buffet
August 26th
8.30-9.00 am – Registration
Session II: Pyridoxal phosphate (First part)
Chair: Gunter Schneider and Michael Dunn
9.00-9.40 – Keynote lecture: Robert Phillips, University of Georgia, U.S.A. – “PLP chemistry and diversity”
9.40-10.10 – Barbara Cellini, University of Verona, Italy – “Pathogenic mutations of alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase”
10.10-10.20 – Klaus Schnackerz, University of Wuerzburg, Germany – “Crystal structure of D-serine dehydratase from Escherichia coli”
10.20-10.30 – Tomokazu Ito, Nagoya University, Japan – “Catalytic mechanism of PLP- and Zn2+-dependent D-serine dehydratase”
10.30-11.00 – Coffee break
Session III: Flavins
Chair: Yasuhisa Asano and Marco W. Fraaije
11.00-11.40 – Keynote lecture: Sandro Ghisla, University of Konstanz, Germany – “Versatility of flavins and flavin enzymes and its molecular origin”
11.40-12.10 – Nigel S. Scrutton, University of Manchester, U.K. - “Coordinating redox chemistry through domain dynamics in flavoproteins”
12.10-12.20 – Helen Bell, University of Edinburgh, U.K. - “Kynurenine 3-monooxygenase – Domain mobility and ligand binding”
12.20-12.30 – Kenji Inagaki, Okayama University, Japan – “Engineering of substrate specificity of L-glutamate oxidase from Streptomyces sp.: directed mutagenesis of Arg305 residue”
12.30-12.40 – Paolo Sobrado, Virginia Tech, U.S.A. – “Chemical mechanism of flavin-dependent ornithine N5-hydroxylases”
12.40-3.00 pm – Lunch and poster session
Session IV: Fe/S (First part)
Chair: Annalisa Pastore and Franco Bonomi
3.00-3.40 – Keynote lecture: Dennis Dean, Virginia Tech, U.S.A. – “Mechanistic features of nitrogenase - A complex metalloenzyme”
3.40-4.10 – Sandra Macedo Ribeiro, University of Porto, Portugal – “IscR: The two faces of a [Fe-S] cluster biogenesis regulator”
4.10-4.20 – Takashi Tamura, Okayama University, Japan – “Molecular evolution of gas cavity in [NiFeSe]-hydrogenases resurrected in silico by ancestral sequence estimation and 3D modeling by molecular dynamics simulation”
4.20-4.50 – Coffee break
Session V: Heme
Chair: Arwen Pearson and Stefano Bettati
4.50-5.30 – Keynote lecture: Thomas Barends, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands - “Unusual cofactors in ANAMMOX enzymes”
5.30-6.00 – Arwen Pearson, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany – “Radiation damage as a tool to probe enzyme mechanism”
6.00-6.10 – Hisaaki Mihara, Ritsumeikan University, Japan – “The unique multiheme selenoprotein of the metal-reducing anaerobic bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens”
6.10-6.20 – Alexey Topunov, Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russia – “Extremely high peroxidase activity of plant hemoglobin”
6.30 – Guided tour of Parma
August 27th
Session VI: Biotechnological, biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of cofactors and cofactors-enzymes
Chair: Tatyana Demidkina and Paul Cook
9.00-9.30 – Maria Laura Bolognesi, University of Bologna, Italy – “Targeting GAPDH with small molecule inhibitors: 2-phenoxynaphthoquinones as lead candidates for Trypanosomatid diseases”
9.30-10.00 – Tatyana Demidkina, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia – ”Methionine gamma-lyase as a target in pathogens and for cancer therapy”
10.00-10.20 – Yasuhisa Asano, Toyama Prefectural University, Japan – “Creation of R-stereoselective amine oxidase from porcine kidney D-amino acid oxidase and its use in deracemization of alpha-methylbenzylamine”
10.20-10.30 – Elena Rosini, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy – “A new biotechnological application of glycine oxidase: evolution of novel enzyme-based biosensors for detection of achiral amino acids”
10.30-11.00 – Coffee break
Session VII: Pyridoxal phosphate (Second part)
Chair: Paola Dominici and Roberto Contestabile
11.00-11.30 – Gunter Schneider, Karolinska Institute, Sweden – “Enzymes of mycobacterial cysteine biosynthesis as potential drug targets”
11.30-12.00 – Barbara Campanini, University of Parma, Italy – “Moonlighting CysK: from cysteine synthesis to toxin activation, the many faces of a potential antibiotic target”
12.00-12.10 – Takashi Takenaka, Nagoya University, Japan – “Characterization of a novel PLP-binding transcriptional regulator of Brevibacillus brevis”
12.10-12.20 – Paola Dominici, University of Verona, Italy – “Functional roles of the hexamer organization of plant glutamate decarboxylase”
12.20-12.30 – Orna Almog, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel – “Structure - function relationship in E. coli tryptophanase: The role of residues 15, 59 and 298 on its cold lability”
12.30-3.00 pm – Lunch and poster session
Session VIII: Flavin and pyridoxal phosphate cofactors and pathologies
Chair: Loredano Pollegioni and Nigel S. Scrutton
3.00-3.30 – Herman Wolosker, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Israel – “Regulation of serine racemase by the serine shuttle: A new type of glia-neuron crosstalk affecting neurotransmission and neurodegeneration”
3.30-4.00 – JeanPierre Mothet, Aix Marseille University, CNRS, France – “Deciphering the role of D-amino acid oxydase to NMDA receptor synaptic functions”
4.00-4.30 – Silvia Sacchi, University of Insubria, Italy – “Modulation of D-amino acid oxidase activity and schizophrenia susceptibility”
4.30-4.40 – Stefano Bruno, University of Parma, Italy – “Fine tuning of serine racemase activity”
4.40-4.50 – Nobuyoshi Esaki, Kyoto University, Japan – “Physiological role and reaction mechanism of selenocysteine lyase: Unique vitamin B6 enzyme acting specifically on selenocysteine”
4.50-5.00 – Alessio Fiascarelli, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy – “Human serine hydroxymethyltransferase as chemotherapeutic target: inhibition by 3-bromopyruvate, a promising antitumoral compound”
5.00-5.30 – Coffee break
Session IX: Quinones
Chair: Carrie Wilmot and Nobuyoshi Esaki
5.30-6.00 – Keynote lecture: Carrie Wilmot, University of Minnesota, U.S.A. – “Posttranslational biosynthesis of the protein-derived cofactor tryptophan tryptophylquinone"
6.00-6.30 – Antonio Sanchez-Amat, University of Murcia, Spain – “L-lysine-epsilon oxidase from Marinomonas mediterranea, the first amino acid oxidase containing a quinone cofactor”
6.30-6.40 – Seiji Okazaki, Toyama Prefectural University, Japan –“ A novel structure of a cysteine tryptophylquinone-dependent oxidase, L-lysine ε-oxidase from Marinomonas mediterranea”
6.40-6.50 – Tadashi Nakai, Osaka University, Japan – “Complete journey of quinohemoprotein amine dehydrogenase from genes to periplasm”
6.50-7.00 – Takeshi Murakawa, Osaka Medical College, Japan – “Conformational flexibility of the topa quinone cofactor in copper amine oxidase revealed by site-specific mutagenesis of the neighboring conserved asparagine residue”
8.00-11.00 pm – Social dinner
August 28th
Session X: Fe/S (Second part)
Chair: Sandra Macedo Ribeiro and Dennis Dean
9.00-9.30 – Annalisa Pastore, King’s College London, U.K. – “The role of the scaffold protein IscU retains in Fe-S cluster assembly”
9.30-10.00 – Silke Leimkühler, University of Potsdam, Germany – “Connecting the biosynthesis of the molybdenum cofactor, Fe-S clusters and tRNA thiolation in humans”
10.00-10.30 – Juan Fontecilla-Camps, CEA-CNRS, Grenoble, France – “X-ray snapshots of possible intermediates in the time course of synthesis and degradation of protein-bound Fe4S4 clusters”
10.30-11.00 – Coffee break
Session XI: Pyridoxal phosphate (Third part)
Chair: Herman Wolosker and Robert Phillips
11.00-11.30 – Leonard Mueller, University of California, California, U.S.A. - “Protonation states of catalytic intermediates at the beta-subunit of tryptophan synthase from solid-state NMR spectroscopy"
11.30-12.00 – Roberto Contestabile, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy – "PdxR: a pyridoxal 5’-phosphate-dependent transcriptional regulator involved in the control of PLP biosynthesis“
12.00-12.15 – Ivo Tews, University of Southampton, U.K. – “Study of vitamin B6 biosynthesis by PLP synthase”
12.15-12.30 – Michael Dunn, University of California, U.S.A. - “Conformational switching and catalysis in the structure and function of tryptophan synthase”
12.30-2.30 pm – Lunch and poster session
Session XII: NAD
Chair: Nadia Raffaelli and Sandro Ghisla
2.30-3.00 – Keynote lecture: Andreas Guse, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany – “Second messengers derived from NAD: metabolism, mechanism of calcium release and roles in T-lymphocytes and cardiac myocytes"
3.00-3.30 – Nadia Raffaelli, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy – “Dissecting NAD biogenesis in mammalian cells”
3.30-4.00 – Laura Conforti, University of Nottingham, U.K. – “NAD biosynthetic pathway: road to neuroprotection”
4.00-4.10 – Alexandre Marbaix, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium – ”An extremely conserved ATP- or ADP-dependent enzymatic system for nicotinamide nucleotide repair”
4.10-4.20 – Luca Sorrentino, University of Milan, Italy –“ The G308E variant of the apoptosis inducing factor, responsible of a rare encephalopathy, is hampered in NAD+/H binding”
4.20-4.50 – Coffee break
Session XIII: Metals
Chair: Paola Turano and John Dawson
4.50-5.20 – Keynote lecture: John Dawson, University of South Carolina, U.S.A. – “Dioxygen binding and the switch to peroxide activation by the globin sea worm peroxidase, Amphitrite ornata dehaloperoxidase”
5.20-5.50 – Paola Turano, University of Florence, Italy – “Iron trafficking in the ferritin nanocage”
5.50-6.00 – Toshihide Okajima, Osaka University, Japan – “Sub-atomic resolution structure of a bacterial copper amine oxidase reveals a putative dioxygen entry route to the active site”
6.00-6.30 – Closing talk: Marco W. Fraaije, University of Groningen, The Netherlands – “Creating new flavoenzymes by flavin cofactor engineering”
6.30-6.40 – Final remarks
| 
