6:00pm - 8:00pm

WELCOME RECEPTION

8:15am - 9am

BREAKFAST

9:15am - 10:55am

Session 1 - Beginning of Embryogenesis

Chair: Hiroki Nishida

#1 Silvia Caballero-Mancebo (IST Austria).

Actin driven ooplasmic segregation in ascidian oocytes

#2 Benoit Godard (IST Austria).

Cleavage plane positioning in early ascidian embryos

#3 Rémi Dumollard (Sorbonne Universités, UPMC, CNRS).

Apical cell shape drives the invariant cleavage pattern of early ascidian embryos and relies on intrinsic and extrinsic cell deformations

#4 Ute Rothbächer (University of Innsbruck).

Repression through Wnt signaling effectors

10:55am - 11:15am

COFFEE BREAK

11:15am - 12:30pm

Session 2 - Developmental Cell Biology

Chair: Michael Veeman

#5 Takefumi Negishi (Tohoku University).

Membrane invagination mediated posterior ciliary positioning is involved in the neurula rotation in Ciona intestinalis

#6 Christina Cota (Swarthmore College).

Mitotic progression choreographs FGF receptor redistribution during differential heart progenitor induction

#7 Yelena Bernadskaya (New York University).

Dual function of the collagen receptor DDR in specifying cell identity and regulating cell adhesion during cardiopharyngeal precursor migration

12:30pm - 2:00pm

LUNCH BREAK (optional lunch box offered).

2:00pm - 3:15pm

Session 3 - From Development to Genomics

Chair: Patrick Lemaire

#8 Michael Veeman (Kansas State University).

Shaping the ascidian notochord

#9 Robert Zeller (San Diego State Univeristy).

Genome and transcriptome assemblies for two Ascidia species

#10 Megan Wilson (University of Otago).

Tunicate evolution: Insights from recently sequenced genomes

3:15pm - 3:45pm

GROUP PHOTO (Rosenthal Pavilion or Washington Square Park)

3:45pm - 4:05pm

COFFEE BREAK

4:05pm - 5:20pm

Session 4 - Allorecognition and Immunity

Chair: Tony De Tomaso

#11 Marie Nydam (Centre College).

Balancing selection on allorecognition genes in the colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri

#12 Loriano Ballarin (University of Padova).

Amyloid and allorecognition in the colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri

#13 Ayelet Voskoboynik (Stanford University).

BHF mediates induction and loss of tolerance in Botryllus schlosseri chimeras

Dinner on your own

8:15am - 9:15am

BREAKFAST

9:15am - 10:30am

Session 5 - Nervous System Development and Anatomy

Chair: Ian Meinertzhagen

#14 Kerrianne Ryan (Dalhousie University).

Interpreting the connectome of a Ciona intestinalis (L.) larva

#15 Alberto Stolfi (NYU/Georgia Institute of Technology).

A conserved RNA switch for Acetylcholine receptor clustering at the neuromuscular junction

#16 Kouhei Oonuma (Konan University).

The cell lineage and the patterns of cell division for photoreceptor cells of the left right asymmetric ocelli in the Ciona intestinalis larva

10:30am - 10:50am

COFFEE BREAK

10:50am - 12:40pm

Session 6 - Development and Evolution of the Nervous System

Chair: Takehiro Kusakabe

#17 Adeline Rausch (Bioemergences - CNRS).

Putative neural crest-like cells in Tunicates, behavior, identity and fate of A10.64

#18 Takeo Horie (University of Tsukuba/Princeton University).

Neural crest and cranial placodes share a common evolutionary origin

KEYNOTE: Marianne Bronner (California Institute of Technology)

Evolutionary origin of vertebrate enteric neurons
Chair: Lionel Christiaen

12:40pm - 2:00pm

LUNCH BREAK (optional lunch box offered).

2:00pm - 3:15pm

Session 7 - Gene regulation

Chair: Kenneth Hastings

#19 Wei Wang (New York University).

A single cell transcriptional roadmap for cardiopharyngeal fate diversification

#20 Claudia Racioppi (New York University).

Chromatin accessibility underlying cardiac vs. pharyngeal muscle specification in Ciona

#21 Emma Farley (UC San Diego).

Regulatory grammar governing enhancer specificity

3:15pm - 3:35pm

COFFEE BREAK

3:35pm - 5:15pm

Session 8 - Imaging Ascidian Development

Chair: Nadine Peyriéras

#22 Ulla-Maj Fiuza (EMBL).

A Nodal and Ephrin signalling relay drives
the transition between apical constriction and apico-basal shortening during ascidian endoderm invagination

#23 Ed Munro (University of Chicago).

Spatiotemporal control of actomyosin contractility during zippering and neural tube closure in a simple chordate

#24 Taichi Akahoshi (Keio University).

Comprehensive characterization of Ca2+ transients in early Ascidian development

#25 Emmanuel Faure (CNRS)

4D Clouds Embryos

5:15pm - 7:15pm

POSTER SESSION 1

All sessions, odd numbers

Dinner on your own

9:30am - 11:30am

Session: career panel discussion

EXCURSION

8:15am - 9:15am

BREAKFAST

9:15am - 10:30am

Session 9 - Systematics and Evolution (1)

Chair: Billie Swalla

#26 Billie Swalla (Washington University).

Molgulid tales

#27 Cristian Cañestro (University of Barcelona).

Gains N’ Losses during the evolution of RA and Wnt developmental pathways in Oikopleura dioica and ascidian species

#28 Dorothee Huchon (Tel-Aviv University).

Insights from complete mitochondrial sequences on the phylogenetic relationships of Aplousobranchia

10:30am - 10:50am

COFFEE BREAK

10:50am - 12:40pm

Session 10 - Systematics and Evolution (2)

Chair: Billie Swalla

#29 Fabio Gasparini (University of Padova).

Disentangling a species complex: the case of the colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri

#30 Rosana Rocha (Universidade Federal do Paraná).

Is Styela canopus a complex of species?

KEYNOTE: Gretchen Lambert (Washington University).

The continuing saga of a sea squirt detective: fouling ascidians in the Galapagos on artificial surfaces
Chair: Anna Di Gregorio

12:40pm - 2:00pm

LUNCH BREAK (optional lunch box offered).

2:00pm - 3:15pm

Session 11 - Ecology (1)

Chair: Noa Shenkar

#31 Shady Amin (NYU Abu Dhabi).

Algal-bacterial interactions: Mutualism, antagonism and chemical signaling

#32 Mey-Tal Gewing (Tel-Aviv University).

Med vs. Red: temperature sensitivity of the non-indigenous ascidian Herdmania momus in the Mediterranean Sea

#33 Steve Irvine (University of Rhode Island).

Connecting water temperature to reproductive physiology and molecular signals in C. intestinalis

3:15pm - 3:35pm

COFFEE BREAK

3:35pm - 5:15pm

Session 12 - Ecology (2)

Chair: Shigeki Fujiwara

#34 Susanna Lopez-Gentil (University of North Carolina Wilmington).

Introduced and native ascidian microbiomes from artificial versus natural habitats

#35 Lauren Stefaniak (Georgia Southern University).

Moving to the reef: historical and present observations of the worldwide introduced species Styela plicata in the Northwest Atlantic continental shelf

#36 Khashayar Razghandi (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).

Structure-Function Analysis of the Filter-House of the Appendicularian Oikopleura dioica

#37 Laurel Hiebert (Universidade de São Paulo).

How ecological factors influence growth patterns of colonial and solitary ascidians

5:15pm - 7:15pm

POSTER SESSION 2

All sessions, even numbers.

Dinner on your own

8:15am - 9:15am

BREAKFAST

9:15am - 10:30am

Session 13 - Late embryos and early larvae

Chair: Filomena Ristoratore

#38 Antonio Palladino (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn).

Gsx in Ascidian Central Nervous System Development

#39 Ugo Coppola (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn).

Klhl21: a new player for pigmentation from Ciona robusta

#40 Brad Davidson (Swarthmore College).

Laterally asymmetric morphogenesis of the heart and gut in Ciona intestinalis

10:30am - 10:50am

COFFEE BREAK

10:50am - 12:30pm

Session 14 - Post-embryonic Development

Chair: Thomas Stach

#41 Gabriel Krasovec (Sorbonne Universités, UPMC, IBPS, CNRS).

Morphogenetic function of apoptosis during tail regression at the metamorphosis stage of Ciona intestinalis

#42 Hiroki Nishida (Osaka University).

Patterning and morphogenesis of the intricate but stereotyped Oikoplastic epidermis of the appendicularian, Oikopleura dioica

#43 Jiankai Wei (Ocean University of China).

Molecular composition and architecture of extracellular matrix in ascidian embryogenesis and larval metamorphosis

#44 Anthony De Tomaso (UC Santa Barbara).

In vivo manipulation of the extracellular matrix induces vascular regression in a basal chordate

12:30pm - 2:00pm

LUNCH BREAK (optional lunch box offered).

2:00pm - 3:40pm

Session 15 - asexual reproduction and regeneration

Chair: Federico Brown

#45 Maria Mandela Prünster (Sorbonne Universités, UPMC, CNRS).

Detour to make muscles? Myogenesis in the budding process of a colonial ascidian, Botryllus schlosseri

#46 Stefano Tiozzo (Sorbonne Universités, UPMC, CNRS).

Asexual reproduction in Styelidae (Ascidiacea): and evo-devo approach

#47 Tal Gordon (Tel-Aviv University).

When One becomes Two - unique regeneration abilities of the solitary ascidians Polycarpa mytiligera

#48 William Jeffery (University of Maryland).

Partial Body Regeneration, Stem Cells, and Regenerative Aging in Ciona

3:40pm - 4:00pm

COFFEE BREAK

4:00pm - 4:50pm

Session 16 - Anatomical Ontology

Chair: Patrick Lemaire

#49 Kohja Hotta (Keio University).

The ontology of larval and metamorphosis stages in Ciona. I. Development

#50 Lucia Manni (University of Padova).

The ontology of larval and metamorphosis stages in Ciona. II. Anatomy

Round table discussions

Databases - Patrick Lemaire
#51 Justine Dardaillon / Matija Brozovic
#52 Marc Rius

Functional genomics methods & resources - Alberto Stolfi
#53 Wei Deng

6:45pm - 7:00pm

Closing remarks - Anna Di Gregorio and Lionel Christiaen

Farewell banquet