Three decades promoting the beauty and impact of transcription
Issue: Imaging
13 February 2018 article
The biennial Asian Conference on Transcription (ACT) covers a broad range of topics focused on the transcriptional regulatory networks of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This year, the 15th ACT (www.asianconferencetranscription.com) was co-organised by the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and the ACT committees in Jen Hotel, Penang, Malaysia from 31 July to 4 August 2017. There were 100 participants representing 13 countries. The Microbiology Society sponsored eight travel awards.
There were two keynote speakers: Professor Frans J. de Bruijn from France, who talked about the stress and environmental regulation of gene expression in bacteria; and Professor Thomas Gilmore from the USA, who described the key roles of NF-Kb with particular reference to the devastating effects of the pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus in our warming oceans. Two Journal of Medical Microbiology (JMM) Editors delivered featured lectures, with Professor S. Karutha Panthian (Algappa University, India) speaking on the cAMP-mediated transcriptional regulation in group A streptococcal biofilms, and Dr Kim Hardie (University of Nottingham, UK) discussing the regulation of the AaaA autotransporter of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
There were too many distinguished talks to mention everyone, but noteworthy were the elegant studies of G.V. Shivashankar (Singapore) on the mechanoregulation of chromosome intermingling and transcription; sigma factor regulatory networks in Actinobacteria (Jung-Hye Roe, Republic of Korea); quorum sensing-induced anticancer drug expression (Hyon Choy, Republic of Korea); and cancer drug repurposing (Cheong Sok Ching, Malaysia). Additionally, the presentations on tRNA modification in stress response in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Mayuree Fuangthong, Thailand); oxidative stress induction of antibiotic resistance in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (Nisanart Charoenlap, Thailand); cell-derived mammalian living models for synthetic biological approaches (Yoh-ichi Tagawa, Japan), characterisation of mosquito small RNAs in relation to dengue virus infection (Ghows Azzam, Malaysia); and mapping the 3D structure of the chromosome to identify the overlap between obesity and type-2 diabetes (Justin O’Sullivan, New Zealand) were of great interest. Sex-specific RNA splicing in mammals (Vincent Harley, Australia) and zygotic genome activation in zebrafish (Julia Horsfield, New Zealand) were also fascinating.
Six oral presentations showcased early career researchers (ECRs). Kwangbeom Hyun (Republic of Korea) won the JMM Best Oral Presenter Prize, followed by Vikas Malik (China) who won second prize, and Akshay Bhat (Singapore) with third. Narumon Thongdee (Thailand) received an honourable mention. All the other ECRs delivered a quick-fire two-minute oral presentation, applying the effective communicating skills learned from Professor Kalai Mathee and Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan. The best poster award, sponsored by the Young Scientists Network-Academy Sciences Malaysia, went to Ananya Pal (Singapore). The following won the Microbiology Society-sponsored awards: Hyunjoo Ko (Republic of Korea) won second prize, Shruti Srinivasan (Singapore) won third prize, and Haroldo Rodriguez (USA) and Kogaan Anbalagan (Malaysia) both received honourable mentions.
A first for ACT this year was the Women in Science forum sponsored by L’Oréal Malaysia, which was chaired by Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan, and featured Ms Jane Loh (Communications Director, L’Oréal Malaysia) and four accomplished women scientists on the panel. The discourse highlighted the benefit of a supportive work–life balance for all scientists and the need to advocate for those succeeding them.
As is tradition, the conference included a cultural visit to Penang and an impressive display of dance and music provided by USM staff. The evening included a presentation of the ACT's history by one of the founding organisers, Professor Changwon Kang (Republic of Korea), earmarking his retirement.
The next meeting will take place in New Zealand in 2019, so watch out for this opportunity to learn fascinating, high-profile science from excellent speakers in a collegial atmosphere.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to members of the ACT international, scientific and local committees, and to our sponsors: Microbiology Society – Silver Sponsor; New England Biolabs; L’Oréal Malaysia; Young Scientists Network-Academy Sciences Malaysia; Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC); Genomax Technologies Ptd Ltd; Axon Scientific Sdn Bhd; and Prima Nexus Sdn Bhd.
Kim Hardie
University of Nottingham; and Section Editor, Journal of Medical Microbiology
Nethia Mohana Kumaran
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Kalai Mathee
Florida International University; and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Medical Microbiology
[email protected]; [email protected]
This event was supported by the Society via a Society- Supported Conference Grant. Find out about other Society-Supported conferences taking place this year and how you could apply for a grant for your event.