Marine Organisms as Model Systems in Biology and Medicine

1.Differentiation and transdifferentiation of sponge cellsMaja Adamska, Division of Biomedical Science and Biochemistry, Research School of BiologyLinnaeus Building 134, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia


2.Crabs reviewParvez Alam, Marie Curie Very Experienced Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh, UK
Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK
Adjunct Professor: Composite Materials and Biostructures, AAU, Finland
Visiting Professor in Biomimetics, UGM, Indonesia


3. Medusa reviewCheryl Ames, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington District of Columbia, USA
4. The crown of thorns starfish: from coral reef plague to model system
Kenneth W Baughman, Marine Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technolog, Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan 
5.Vision made easy: box jellyfish can advance our understanding of systems level visual information processingJan Bielecki, Marine Biological Section, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 4, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

6. Mechanisms of immune response in coralsLuis F. Cadavid, Dept. de Biología & Instituto de Genética, Universidad Nacional de ColombiaBogotá DC, Colombia


7. Starfish as a model system for analyzing signal transduction during oocyte maturation and fertilizationDavid Carroll, Director of Graduate Programs in Biology Dept. of Biological Sciences Florida Institute of Technology 150 West University Blvd. Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
8. Translational regulation in marine organisms and interest in cancer researchPatrick Cormier, Responsable équipe Traduction Cycle Cellulaire et Développement, Laboratoire de Biologie Intégrative des Modèles marins- LBI2M- UMR8227, Station Biologique CNRS UPMC, Place Georges Teissier CS 90074, 29688 ROSCOFF CEDEX, France

9. Octopus vulgaris: an invertebrate alternative model system of complex brainAnna Cosmo, Department of Biology, University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, NA 80126, Italy

10. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of regeneration in echinodermsCarlos Diaz-Balzac and Garcia-Arraras, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Department of Genetics, Ullmann Building, Room 709, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA

11. Post-embryonic development (spec ifically metamorphosis) as a model for cell restructuring and differentiation in sea urchinsAndreas Heyland, University of Guelph, Integrative Biology, 50 Stone Rd East, SCIE 1468, Guelph, ON N1G-2W1, Canada

12. Small ncRNAs repertoire associated with immunity on Tunicates" or "ncRNA evolutionary patterns in Tunicata"Cristian Arley Velandia Huerto, MSc Bioinformatics Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Grupo RNomica teórica y computacional, Colombia

13. Jellyfish as the model for the evolution of sensory systems and stem cell differentiationDavid K. Jacobs, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.

14. Regeneration in EchinodermsYoussra Ben Khadra, Laboratory of Genetics, Biodiversity and Valorization of Bioresources, Higher Institute of Biotechnology, University of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia, and University of Barcelona, Spain

15. Starfish oocytes as a model system for meiosis researchPeter Lénárt, Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

16. Marine pharmacologyAlejandro M.S. Mayer, Department of Pharmacology, CCOM?Midwestern University?555 31st Street, Science Hall 322J, Downers Grove, Illinois 60515, USA

17. Actin cytoskeleton and egg activation in sea urchin and starfish L. Santella, Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy

18. Ascidians as model organisms for studying regenerationShenkar Noa, Department of Zoology George S. Wise Faculty of Life Science Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies

19. Marine nemertean worms as model systems for studying oocyte maturation and fertilizationStephen Stricker, Department of Biology, MSC03 2020, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

20. The evolution of sperm chromatin in marine invertebratesAnna Török, Centre for Chromosome Biology, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

21. More than just evo-devo: Tunicates as model organisms for dissecting chordate gene regulatory networksMichael Veeman, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA

22. Primary cell culture and transfection in crustaceansTomer Ventura, Aquaculture Biotechnology Research Fellow, University of the Sunshine Coast 4 Locked Bag, Maroochydore DC Queensland, Australia 4558

23. Stem cells of the reproductive system (sea urchin, starfish)Gary Wessel, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Biochemistry, Box G, 185 Meeting Street, Brown University, Pr ovidence, RI, USA

24. Echinoderm oocytes and embryos to understand mechanisms of cell and embryonic polarityAthula H. Wikramanayake, Professor and Chair of Biology, University of Miami, Florida, USA