Alternative splicing is a major versatile mechanism that generates diversity in human transcriptome. Its regulation is complex and is an important means of physiological control. Its disruption is associated with many diseases, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart failure and neurodegenerative disorders. The realisation that alternative splicing is an important way of controlling gene expression has spawned several large-scale efforts to create bioinformatics resources on alternate transcripts and protein isoforms. These include: computational methods and tools to delineate and characterise alternate transcript structures; databases of alternate transcripts and protein isoforms; and annotations that describe the physiology, pathology and evolution of alternate transcript generation. These efforts require community-based collaborations involving bioinformaticians,computational & experimental biologists, and pharmaceutical researchers. This symposium aims to bring together this community to discuss these resources.

Programme Committee

* Eleanor Whitfield (EMBL-EBI, UK)
* Bertrand Seraphin, (CNRS Gif sur Yvette, France)
* Daniel Gautheret (INSERM, France)
* Stefan Stamm (University of Erlangen, Germany)
* Winston Hide (SANBI, Sout Africa)
* Adrian Krainer (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Local Organising Committee (all at EMBL-EBI, UK)

* Liz Ford
* Paul Matthews
* Eleanor Whitfield
* Francesco Nardone



List of Speakers

This list will be updated as further speakers are confirmed. In addition to the talks by invited speakers, oral presentations of selected poster submissions will be arranged.

Albrecht Bindereif (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Germant)
Angela Krämer (Universite de Geneve, Switzerland)
Annemieke Aartsma-Rus (Leids Universitrair Medisch Centrum, Netherlands)
Bertrand Seraphin (Centre de Génétique Moléculaire, France)
Brenton Graveley (University of Connecticut Health Center, USA)
Christopher Lee (UCLA College, USA)
Chris Smith (University of Cambridge, UK)
Donald Rio (University of California Berkeley)
Douglas Black (UCLA College, USA)
Francisco Baralle (International Centre for Genetic engineering and
biotechnology)
Gil Ast (Tel Aviv University Medical School, Israel)
Goran Akusjarvi (Uppsala Universitet, Sweden)
Guiseppe Biamonti (Istituto di Genetica Molecolare, Italy
Jamal Tazi (Institut de Génétique Moléculaire, France)
Javier Caceres (MRC Human Genetics Unit, UK)
Julian Venables (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
Mariano Garcia-Blanco (Duke University, USA)
Mihaela Zavolan (Universitat Basel, Germany)
Peer Bork (EMBL-Heidelberg, Germany)
Roderic Guigo (Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica, Spain)**
Ryszard Kole (University of North Carolina, USA)
Sandro Jose De Souza (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Brazil)
Utz Fischer (University of W.rzburg, Germany)


ATD Programme Schedule

The programme will include a combination of invited talks, poster sessions and talks selected from poster abstracts.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

* Regulation of alternative splicing: the understanding of expression bias in alternate splicing and the expression state
* Biology of alternative splicing
* Disease-relevant alternative splice events and therapeutic application

A schedule of the symposium is available in Word or PDF format on the webpage.

Abstracts of the invited talks and poster presentations will be made available in the symposium proceedings.

The registration fee is € 250 Euros for academics and € 325 Euros for industry delegates. This covers the cost of lunches and refreshments, an abstract book and the conference dinner. This DOES NOT include accommodation.