Despite the prevalence of intracellular proteolytic events in biological systems and the immense number of studies dealing with regulated intracellular proteolysis, there is presently not a single scientific conference that addresses intracellular proteolysis and its cellular regulation beyond ubiquitin-mediated protein turnover. This is particular striking in light of several recent landmark findings that show an intricate regulation of proteasome function depending on cellular signals. Furthermore, despite the striking similarities between proteolytic systems in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and the fact that proteolytic systems in prokaryotes are the focus of intensive studies in their own right, no platform that is dedicated to intracellular protein degradation in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and to both ubiquitin-related and unrelated degradation. For instance, protein degradation by proteases such as Lon, ClpXP and HslUV hardly fit the scopes of existing conferences. The same is true for ubiquitin-independent degradation by the eukaryotic proteasome or to mechanistic understanding of proteasome function such as e.g. by alternative proteasome regulators.
Consequently, researchers in the field of proteolysis unrelated to ubiquitin barely interact and do not exchange knowledge. This conference is, therefore, envisioned to overcome such obstacles and foster fruitful interactions among researchers in the proteolysis field. Moreover, it aims to bring together researcher from all over the world that focus on the mechanistic understanding of proteasome function in the cell. Being the first event of its kind, we chose, at this time, to present this conference as an on-off event. We anticipate that due to the need in the field to hold such a scientific event, this meeting will become a springboard towards establishing a conference series which will focus specifically on molecular machines and signaling pathways involved in fine-tuning intracellular proteolysis. All WGs will be involved, principally WGs 1 and 6.
Place: Schloss Hohenkammer, Munich, Germany