30 September – 03 October 2018 • Leuven • Belgium

This specialised meeting will give an overview of protein traffic and secretion in bacteria. Bacterial cells dedicate a significant number of components to ensure targeting of proteins to the plasma membrane. These proteins are then integrated in the lipid bilayer or are released to the other side. Most proteins use the ubiquitous and essential Sec system for these processes, but other evolutionarily unrelated protein machines have also been developed that allow exported proteins to cross the plasma membrane and cell envelope. This arsenal of mechanisms ensures that more than 30% of the bacterial proteome ends up in extra-cytoplasmic locations. Protein export is essential for viability, pathogenicity, symbiosis and biofilm formation. vaccines, to produce heterologous biopharmaceuticals and industrial enzymes, and to transform them into cancer cell killing devices. Finally, trafficking components constitute formidable targets for antibiotic discovery.

Topics to be discussed in the symposium include the following (for more information see the program):

• demonstrate richness of bacterial protein topologies and dynamics
• compare topological signals, non-folding solutions and secretion mechanisms
• present multi-disciplinary methods
• targeting trafficking systems with novel antibiotics
• exploiting secretion solutions for biotechnology

As this type of specialised meetings is in high demand, we intend to attract the specialists in the domain as well as PhD students and postdocs, also given the interesting program we could put together.

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