Dates: 8-10 September 2027 (TBC)

Venue: University of Reading (TBC)

Meiotic and germ cell proteins have long been considered to function exclusively during gametogenesis. However, growing evidence demonstrates that many of these proteins are repurposed in somatic cells, where they perform functions in diverse biological processes including chromatin organisation, DNA repair, centrosome and cilia biology, stem cell maintenance, development, ageing and immune regulation. Aberrant expression of these proteins is also increasingly recognized as a feature of numerous human diseases, particularly cancer, where they can impact tumour evolution, genome stability and therapeutic response.

This interdisciplinary meeting will bring together researchers from cell biology, developmental biology, reproductive biology, cancer biology, structural biology, immunology and genomics to discuss the emerging biology of meiotic and germ cell protein moonlighting, and to explore therapeutic exploitation of germ cell factors in human cancer.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Professor Owen Davies (University of Edinburgh), whose work has transformed our understanding of meiotic chromosome organisation and synaptonemal complex assembly.
• Professor Omer Dushek (University of Oxford), an internationally recognised leader in quantitative immunology and immune receptor signalling.
• Professor Björn Schumacher (University of Cologne), an expert on DNA repair, genome stability, and the biology of healthy ageing.
• Professor Li Lan (Duke University), a expert on DNA damage responses, chromatin biology and genome maintenance, whose work has provided fundamental insights into the mechanisms that preserve genome integrity.
• Professor Pablo Visconti (University of Massachusetts Amherst), internationally recognised for pioneering studies of mammalian sperm biology, capacitation and signalling pathways regulating fertilisation.
• Professor Charles De Smet (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Brussels), whose research has been instrumental in defining cancer-germline (cancer-testis) antigens and the epigenetic mechanisms underlying their activation in human cancer.
• Professor Sabine Linn (Netherlands Cancer Institute), an internationally recognised expert in DNA repair, genome stability and precision oncology, whose work has advanced our understanding of DNA repair pathways and their exploitation for cancer therapy.

Together with invited experts from across the field, the meeting will encourage new interactions between communities that rarely meet despite sharing common biological questions. The programme will be organised into three thematic sessions:

I. New Biology of Meiotic and Germ Cell Proteins Exploring unexpected functions of classical meiotic and germ cell proteins in somatic tissues, including roles in chromosome biology, centrosomes, cilia, development, ageing and tissue homeostasis. 

II. Evolution and Regulation of Germ Cell Gene Expression Examining how germ cell genes have evolved, how their expression is controlled during development and differentiation, and the molecular mechanisms governing their reactivation outside the germline.

III. Germ Cell Proteins in Cancer: Mechanisms and Clinical Opportunities Highlighting the emerging roles of germ cell proteins in tumour biology, genome stability, immune interactions and therapeutic resistance, together with their potential as biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets.

By bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines, the conference will define the next generation of questions in this rapidly expanding field and establish a collaborative community focused on understanding how proteins once thought to function exclusively in meiosis have been repurposed across physiology and disease.