Beyond the standard: Unconventional vertebrate models in biomedicine
The European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) are offering a workshop (9-13 June) which explores how unconventional vertebrate models are becoming engines for new research directions in biomedicine.
The workshop is being led by a team of IRR researchers and will bring together a diverse group of international experts working across a range of unconventional vertebrates (or interested in incorporating them into their research). The aim is to stimulate discussions, create new research bridges across fields and share technological expertise that will expand the research toolbox for these species.
Organised by Aida Rodrigo Albors, Sofia Ferreira Gonzalez, and Stuart Forbes, this five-day event will be hosted at the National Museum of Scotland and includes keynote talks, short and flash talks selected from abstracts, poster sessions, plenty of time for networking, talk and poster prizes.
Building on the previous EMBO Workshop, this meeting will be split over seven sessions focusing on tools and methods development, immunology and metabolism, reproduction and reproductive health, stem cells, tissue repair and regeneration, senescence and ageing.
We are excited to host this EMBO workshop in Edinburgh and to exchange knowledge and expertise with international colleagues. The unique features of non-model organisms clearly demonstrate the flexibility of biological systems and have the potential to offer new translational discovery paths
Professor Stuart Forbes
IRR Director and Group Leader
Unconventional vertebrate models at the IRR
As society looks to the future, the gateway to new scientific discoveries will come partly by studying and learning from an ever-expanding range of species that have evolved clever solutions to exist and thrive in every conceivable environment on our planet. With a fast-growing number of new genome technologies and techniques, the opportunities for non-standard organisms to impact biomedical research have never been greater.
Opportunities for collaboration in novel areas of unconventional vertebrate biomedicine are particularly strong in Edinburgh, where several IRR research groups leverage the University’s spiny mouse colony.
The lab group led by Dr Sofia Ferreira Gonzalez work on ageing and regeneration on spiny mouse models, while the Forbes group use them to study ways of boosting liver regeneration.
Dr Aida Rodrigo Albors also uses the colony in her research, along with the axolotl facility that she recently established to take a cross-species approach to spinal cord regeneration.
By working across species (axolotl, mice and spiny mice), I will now directly compare successful, partial, and failed regeneration to discover the critical signalling pathways/factors and gene regulatory networks that account for differences in spinal cord regeneration capacity. This research will reveal both fundamental principles of spinal cord regeneration and the specific molecular mechanisms that limit and support it.
Dr Aida Rodrigo Albors
Group Leader at IRR
We are extremely excited to host this event in Edinburgh. It will not only bring the best research updates on unconventional models but it will also do it in an unconventional location, the National Museum of Scotland, that currently hosts Dolly the sheep.
I would encourage anyone with an interest in rare models and odd science and who is looking to diversify their research options, to attend!
Dr Sofia Ferreira Gonzalez
Group Leader at IRR
Registration
This five day workshop will run 9 - 13 June 2025.
The registration deadline is 8 May 2025.
Price ranges differ for students, postdocs, academics and industry participants. Places are offered on a first come, first served basis.
Registration entitles participants to access all talks and poster sessions, lunch and receptions, the walking tour and the gala dinner.
Participants can submit their abstract for oral or poster presentations. The abstract submission deadline is 11 April 2025.
Those who have novel and stimulating research relevant to the workshop topics, as well as anyone interested in rare models who are trying to open new areas of research, are encouraged to apply.
The organising committee will select a number of participants for short talks and poster presentations.
Full details and selection criteria are available on the event website.
