GoingToMeet

Of all mature hematopoietic cell types, lymphocytes are most sophisticated in terms of their combination of highly regulated, differentiated characteristics with virtually unlimited proliferative potential and the ability to respond correctly in a wide variety of microenvironments. The developmental process that generates these cells from pluripotent hematopoietic precursors needs to install regulatory circuits so robust that they can faithfully maintain cell-type-specific characteristics in different places, different times, and after different numbers of divisions. Exciting recent advances are now helping us begin to understand the regulatory cascade that pushes cells through the transition from pluripotent progenitor to committed B or T lymphocyte.

This conference is explicitly planned to bring together researchers working on the transcriptional mechanisms regulating gene expression in lymphocyte development with those addressing the impact of regulatory changes on developmental choices. The goal is to provide a lively, critical audience for models proposing specific causal linkages between transcription factors, their target genes, and a resulting change in developmental fate.