Futura 27 | 2.2012
Facts
Professor Kai Simons, chair of the 105th International Titisee Conference ‘Lipids as Organizers of Cell Membranes’.
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Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
Facts
Futura 27 | 2.2012
Titisee – a special
kind of conference
By Michael Simm
First held in 1962, the International Titisee Conferences (ITCs) have been a forum for scientists
from a large variety of disciplines to discuss biomedical research topics ranging from isolated
heart muscle cells to the dynamics of the human brain. The secret of the conferences’ success
lies not only in the content of the meetings and the selection of participants, but also in their
unique concept, explains Professor Kai Simons, chair of the 105th ITC.
This year, the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) celebrates the 50th an­ My co-chair Gisou van der Goot(1) and I wanted to have a conferniversary of the biannual International Titisee Conferences. You were
chair of the 105th ITC ‘Lipids as Organizers of Cell Membranes’ – What
was your experience of that meeting?
Photo: BLEND3 Frank Graetz
It all started with a visit by BIF’s managing director Dr Claudia
Walther and her assistant Iris Bodenbender, who came to my lab at
the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in
Dresden. They made me an offer that I could not refuse: Did I want
to organize a conference on my favourite topic, without having to
worry about money, selecting the right venue, inviting the participants, or having to take care of other cumbersome organizational
details? Having attended at least two ITCs, one of them as far back as
1974, I already knew about the spirit of those meetings – so my answer was a resounding ‘YES’.
ence that would reflect the multidisciplinary character of cell
membrane research. This meant that we had to consider not only
lipids, but also membrane proteins, signal transduction, and membrane trafficking, so we needed to invite researchers employing cell
biological, structural biological and biophysical approaches to
come to grips with the daunting complexity of cell membranes.
What were the key aspects that you wanted to address?
If you want to unravel how membranes are made and how they
work, you need to understand how lipids and proteins function as
collectives. This is what makes membrane research so exciting:
you have to cover so many different aspects to delve deeper into
the secrets that make membranes work. Membrane research, in
fact, is a prime example of systems biology at its best. In addition,
So the secret of the conferences’ success is that BIF makes it easy for the stunning dynamics of membranes was an aspect we wanted to
a designated chair to host an ITC?
include in the conference.
Not having to worry about pretty much anything makes the offer
very attractive indeed – and the organisational support provided by What do you think are the most important discoveries, develop­
BIF, frankly, is fantastic. I’ve organized a great many scientific con- ments, and milestones in lipid research over the last few years?
ferences myself throughout my career and I know how much work One milestone was the introduction of lipidomics, i.e. mass specthis usually entails. In my view, the support that BIF provides makes trometric methods that allow us to quantitatively analyse the hunall the difference. It is also terrific that only the chairs are responsible dreds of different lipids that occupy our cell membranes. Another
crucial step was the elucidation of important lipid–protein interfor inviting the participants.
actions that regulate membrane protein function. Membrane proWhen you set up this conference on ‘Lipids as Organizers of Cell Mem­ tein research had for a long time neglected the contributions of
branes’, what scientific fields did you choose the participants from?
lipids to membrane protein function, due to the technical
1. Professor at the Institute of Infectiology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
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Facts
Futura 27 | 2.2012
Prof. Kai Simons was born
in Helsinki, Finland, in 1938.
Having earned his MD in 1964
in his hometown, he became a
full professor at the University
of Helsinki in 1972. Three years
later, he moved to EMBL in
Heidelberg, where he spent a
considerable part of his career.
He also co-founded the Max
Planck Institute of Molecular
Cell Biology and Genetics (MPICBG) in 1998. ‘No chance‘, was
the comment he most often
heard when establishing the institute in Dresden in 2001. Prov-
­ ifficulties in this field. But now this is changing, and important
d
discoveries are being made. One question that has been addressed
recently is how the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) succeeds in sorting transmembrane proteins for a variety of potential destinations, such as the Golgi complex, endosomes/lysosomes and the
plasma membrane. It seems that this intrinsic sorting capability is
helped by a cholesterol gradient between the ER and the cell surface. In a similar fashion, specific sphingolipids that are synthesized in the Golgi complex help in sorting proteins destined for
the plasma membrane based on a preferential association of these
lipids with cholesterol.
In addition, powerful new technologies have been introduced
into membrane research: fluorescence microscopy has now
reached a resolution below the diffraction of light, making it possible to investigate the interaction between proteins and lipids in
the plasma membrane on a nanometre scale. Thus we were able to
validate the concept of membrane sub-compartmentalization by
lipid rafts. Rafts are fascinating examples of dynamic lipid–protein
collectives that allow parallel processing in the continuous two-dimensional fluid that forms the basic unit of all cell membranes.
ing his critics wrong, Simons
not only succeeded in putting
the MPI-CBG on the map of
international research, but also
established a highly successful
biotech network. Simons is now
Director Emeritus at the MPICBG. His scientific achievements
Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
include elucidating how cells
handle cholesterol and other
crucial lipids. With his work on
lipid rafts, he addressed the
problem of how the interactions
between the great variety of
lipids and proteins contribute to
specificity in cellular function.
Why should researchers leave their labs and travel to Titisee? What
do the ITCs offer that you would not find at any other conference?
The beautiful surroundings with the lake at your doorstep, and a
view of the hills of the Black Forest extending in all directions, are
reason enough for a visit to Titisee. Another advantage is the excellent food and – the most important detail – the truly intimate
atmosphere. These factors make the ITCs so unique – they are relaxing and highly productive at the same time.
So the biggest meetings are not necessarily the best?
Of course not. The size of some of the meetings in my field, molecular biology, is immense, some hosting up to 10,000 participants. Here at Titisee, we have 60 people at most. Other highquality conferences that are considered small, such as the Cold
Spring Harbor meetings or those in Europe at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, all have at least twice as many participants. In Titisee, all attendants of the conference live in the same
hotel for the full length of the conference. We not only present
and listen to scientific talks, but we also see each other over breakfast, lunch and dinner. This leads to a completely different way of
exchanging information.
What are the big questions in the field that remain to be answered?
Exchange seems to be exactly what the ITCs want to encourage.
The biggest issue certainly is to understand why we have so many different lipids in our cell membranes, how these different lipid species
interact with each other, and how they regulate protein function. It
will be equally important to introduce the striking new developments
in membrane research into clinical medicine and into nutritional research. Obesity, for instance, clearly is a problem involving lipids.
Well, attendees are invited to present their latest findings and look
for opportunities for scientific cooperation. In addition, the chairs
are encouraged to invite leading scientists from two to three sub-disciplines, which is also a crucial requirement. Right from the beginning we also take great care to get the discussion started, so as to
open our colleagues’ minds – and create the kind of atmosphere that
is needed to have a true exchange of ideas.
Will we have to wait for new technologies to address these chal­
lenges? What will it take to achieve the next breakthroughs?
There must be something that you would do differently if you were
The necessary technologies, e.g. stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy, are already available. But we are eagerly awaiting new
methods to analyse membrane dynamics at higher resolution or to
visualize lipids in different membranes. Another challenge will be
to reconstitute cell membrane functions in vitro: to use synthetic
biology strategies to unravel the principles involved. Here we will
need to find ways to reconstitute complex cellular functions from
the core components required. Could we, for instance, reconstitute
the machinery for cell migration?
asked to change the frame for the ITCs?
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Not at all, actually. There is nothing I would want to change. BIF
has created a quality label that, due to its record of excellence, has
long attracted the best scientists of the field. I hope that the foundation’s Board of Trustees will continue to select the right kind of
scientists for these conferences, so we can all look forward to the
next 50 years.
Professor Simons, thank you very much for this interview.