PNWYC 2025

Our team prepared a full-day schedule with many opportunities to network and learn about the awesome research being done in the PNWYC. This year, as part of our new industry session, you will also have a chance to hear from local companies doing yeast work. There are less than 10 spots available, so register now to ensure you don't miss out.

You can now access the abstracts for our Trainee talks and Poster presentations.

9:00 - 9:30: Arrival, coffee, and poster setup

9:30 - 10:30: Session 1

Moderator: TBA

TATA box binding protein core domain dictates its evolutionarily conserved function

Hazel Cui, University of British Columbia - Sheila Teves Lab

A high-throughput platform for transcription factor characterization in yeast

Omar Tariq, University of British Columbia - Carl de Boer Lab

How natural variation in transcript properties modulates mRNA and protein levels in budding yeast

Nadine Tietz, Western Washington University - Dan Pollard Lab

Regulation of chromatin structure and transcription by yeast general regulatory factors

Anuradha Venkatramani, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Centre - Steve Hahn Lab

10:30 - 11:15: Coffee break and Posters (suggest last names A-H present)

11:15 - 12:00: Session 2: Keynote talk by Dr. Ben Montpetit, University of California, Davis

"Decoding mRNP Complexes – One Gene and Molecule at a Time"

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) interact with mRNA to form supramolecular assemblies called messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) complexes. This seminar will describe our recent efforts to understand the assembly and dynamics of nuclear mRNP complexes utilizing live-cell imaging and single-molecule assays in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Through a transcriptional gene array system, we identified pioneering assembly factors, including Yra1, Cbp80, and Yhs7, establishing a temporal framework for mRNP assembly. Additionally, a novel single-molecule imaging approach, mRNP-SiMPull, revealed compositional heterogeneity and plasticity in mRNPs, providing a role for Yra1 in mRNP compaction. Together, these findings provide new mechanistic insights into how gene-dependent RBP recruitment shapes mRNP composition and function.

12:00 - 1:00: Session 3

Moderator: TBA

5. Experimental evolution reveals new drivers of freeze-thaw tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Leah Anderson, University of Washington - Maitreya Dunham Lab

6. Profiling the fitness of wild & domestic Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains in response to cytotoxic compounds via CRISPR-Cas9 barcoding

Jackson Moore, University of British Columbia - Vivien Measday Lab

7. Mining yeast diversity for recombinant production goals

Ryan Wong, University of British Columbia - Thibault Mayor Lab

8. Engineering stress-resistant yeast with tardigrade damage suppressor gene (Dsup): genomics and large-scale phenotyping to elucidate function

Hamid Kian Gaikani, University of British Columbia - Corey Nislow Lab

1:00 - 1:45: Lunch sponsored by Sunrise Science!

1:45 - 2:45: Session 4: Industry session

Moderator: TBA

1:45 - 2:15: Renaissance Bioscience - Zachari Turgeon, MSc

"A Renaissance in Yeast Biology: Leveraging Diverse Tools for Strain Optimization"

2:15 - 2:45: BioBoost Synbio - Mingyang Sun, MSc

"Methanol-free Pichia pastoris expression system and its application in producing novel food ingredient"

2:45 - 3:20: Session 5

Moderator: TBA

9. Using yeast to bring research into the teaching lab: A yeast CRISPR CURE for biochemistry, geroscience, and other fields

Kristen Mittl, Western University of Health Sciences - Brian Wasko Lab

Engineering Yeast with Open Tools

Dr. Scott Pownall, Open Science Network

President & co-founder of Open Science Network Society (est. 2015) in Vancouver, Canada, Dr. Pownall has a life long passion and curiosity for the world around him and this drives his diverse interests. He has worked with DNA-based technologies in industry, academia, research institutes and community for 40 years in Australia and Canada. He has engineered microbes, mice, mammalian cells and pigs and provides consulting services in the fields of genetics, bioinformatic, molecular, cellular, and synthetic biology. Dr. Pownall has been a contributor to the now defunct BioBricks Foundation's FreeGenes program. He is the creator of the Open Yeast Collection and the new Yeast Protein Expression Toolkit, all released under the permissive OpenMTA. The Open Yeast Collection is now in over 50 countries around the world. He is also a collaborator with the UK-based Open Bioeconomy Lab at the University of Cambridge, the Reclone Network and serves actively on the iGEM Engineering Committee.

3:20 - 4:05: Coffee break and Posters (suggest last names I-Z present)

4:05 - 5:05: Session 6

Moderator: TBA

10. Concurrent detection of chemically modified bases in yeast mitochondrial tRNAs by Nanopore direct RNA sequencing

Julia Reinsch, University of Oregon - David Garcia Lab

11. Uncovering the functional impact of missense mutations proteome-wide using mistranslation and mass spectrometry

Matthew Berg, University of Washington - Judith Villen Lab

12. Understanding the mechanisms of protein sequestration to the Intranuclear Quality Control site in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Ryan Campbell, University of British Columbia - Peter Stirling Lab

13. A Rab5-GEF and a regulatory site in the GAP adaptor BLOC coordinate isoform-specific Rab5 inactivation

Mia Frier, University of British Columbia - Elizabeth Conibear Lab

5:05 - 5:15: Discussion about prospects for PNWYC2026

5:15 - 5:30: Walk to Koerner's Pub!

5:30 - 7:30: Social at Koerner's Pub sponsored by Sunrise Science!

For questions about the 2025 PNWYC meeting at UBC, please contact Peter Stirling (pstirling@bccrc.ca) and/or Leticia Dinatto (ldinatto@bccrc.ca).

Thank you to our sponsors for helping make this meeting free for all!

Special thanks to our continued partner, Sunrise Science Products, for generously providing coffee break and lunch for all attendees, and for sponsoring our Beer Hour at Koerner's Pub.

Graduate program in Cell & Developmental Biology

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse