Three Scandinavian scientists invited to the third National Conference of the Chinese Society of Matrix Biology
Matrix Biology group leader and CCBIO PI Donald Gullberg recently returned from an inspiring conference in China.
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The Chinese Society of Matrix Biology (CSMB) hosted its third meeting on Nov. 17-20th, 2018 in Hangzhou, China at Hangzhou International Expo Center (also site of G20 meeting in 2016) for 250 participants. This was a joint event with the 11th Asian and Pan-Pacific Connective Tissue Societies Symposium, organized by the Chinese Society of Matrix Biology, Peking University, ZheJiang University and SchenZhen University.
Among the invited speakers, Scandinavia was represented by Donald Gullberg, University of Bergen, Roger Karlson, University of Stockholm and Staffan Strömblad, Karolinska institute. Keynote address was made by Prof. Reinhard Fässler, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany.
Professor Gullberg's talk was titled "Integrin α11β1, a potential anti-fibrosis target on fibroblasts", and dealt with recent developments in integrin α11 research with an emphasis on the latest addition to the available tools based on integrin α11: the ITGA11-Cre mouse strain. This new Cre mouse strain has potential applications in deleting genes in the fibroblasts of fibrotic diseases or in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) where ITGA11 promoter is highly active.
A special welcome dinner was arranged on November 16th and speakers were also invited to an outdoor performance at the West Lake (a stage has been built 3 centimeters below the surface of lake). Using the lake and its surroundings as props, lights and hundreds of actors create a performance of light, music, dance and theatrics at night.
