Conference Program

Dates: September 28 – October 1, 2026
Venue: Novotel Gdansk Marina Hotel, Gdańsk, Poland
Organizers / Opening Chairs: J. Marszałek & R. Dutkiewicz

Monday, September 28th

16.00 – 19.00  

Registration

19:30 – 21:00

Welcome Drink & Dinner

Tuesday, September 29th

08:00 – 09:00

Breakfast

09:00 – 09:10

Opening Remarks 

J. Marszałek & R. Dutkiewicz

Session 1: Prokaryotic Fe-S Cluster Synthesis & Stress Response

Chair: Jaroslaw Marszalek

09:10 – 09:40

Topic: Bacterial pathogen survival and Fe-S cluster maintenance under oxidative stress. (Title TBA)

Oral 1: Frédéric Barras (Institut Pasteur, France)

09:40 – 10:10

Topic: Bacterial oxygen/metabolic sensing and cluster-mediated transcription. (Title TBA)

Oral 2: Patricia Kiley (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)

10:10 – 10:40

“Functional aspects of extramitochondrial Fe/S protein maturation”

Oral 3: Oliver Stehling (Universität Marburg, Germany)

10:40 – 11:10

“Fe-S cluster biogenesis in Escherichia coli”

Oral 4: Beatrice Py (Aix-Marseille Université, France)

11:10 – 11:30

Coffee break

Session 2: Complex Clusters, Pathophysiology, & Biophysical Methods

Chair: Antonio J. Pierik

11:30 – 12:00

“The SUF Iron-Sulfur Cluster Assembly Machinery: From Escherichia coli to Mycobacterium tuberculosis”

Oral 5: Sandrine Ollagnier de Choudens (Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France)

12:00 – 12:30

“Structural Insights into Nitrogenase FeMo-Co Assembly”

Oral 6: Yvain Nicolet (Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France)

12:30 – 13:00

Topic: Pathophysiology of Frataxin deficiency and Friedreich’s ataxia. (Title TBA)

Oral 7: Hélène Puccio (University of Lyon, France)

13:00 – 13:30

“Elucidating Electron Transfer Pathways of Iron-Sulfur Proteins via Solution NMR”

Oral 8: Simone Ciofi-Baffoni (University of Florence, Italy)

13:30 – 14:30

 Lunch

14:30 – 16:00

Poster Session

16:00 – 16:30

Coffee break

 Session 3: Homeostasis, Biogenesis & Host-Pathogen Interactions

Chair: Nick Le Brun

16:30 – 17:00

“A non-canonical FeS cluster coordination enables ferroptosis sensing”

Oral 9: Carsten Berndt (Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Germany)

17:00 – 17:30

“Iron, Sulfur, and Survival: A New Role for Metallothioneins in Fungal Pathogens”

Oral 10: Caryn Outten (University of South Carolina, USA)

17:30 – 18:00

“ISC [2Fe–2S] cluster biogenesis machinery in E. coli: cluster assembly on IscU and IscR-mediated regulation”

Oral 11: Miaomiao Gao (University of East Anglia, United Kingdom)

18:00 – 18:30

Topic: Bacillus subtilis and Gram-positive prokaryotic Fe-S cluster synthesis. (Title TBA)

Oral 12: Patricia Dos Santos (Wake Forest University, USA)

18:30 – 19:00

“A Hybrid Cofactor Biosynthesis Pathway Expands Electron Transfer Options for Nitrogen Fixation”

Oral 13: Kathryn Fixen (University of Minnesota, USA)

19:30 – 20:30

Dinner

Wednesday, September 30th

08:00 – 09:00

Breakfast

Session 4: Regulation, Spectroscopy, & Chaperones

Chair: Rafal Dutkiewicz

09:00 – 09:30

“Determining the signals to which Rrf2-family Fe-S regulators respond”

Oral 14: Nick Le Brun (University of East Anglia, United Kingdom)

09:30 – 10:00

“Paramagnetic NMR is a tool to structurally characterize iron-sulfur proteins: the case of Human Ferredoxins”

Oral 15: Mario Piccioli (University of Florence, Italy)

10:00 – 10:30

“Viral Fe-S proteins: The small Cys/Gly-rich GciS protein in the giant Mimivirus”

Oral 16: Bénédicte Burlat (CNRS/AMU, Marseille, France)

10:30 – 11:00

“Molecular basis of client recognition by the mitochondrial Hsp70 Ssq1 specialized in Fe-S cluster biogenesis.”

Oral 17: Jaroslaw Marszalek (University of Gdansk, Poland)

11:00 – 11:30

Coffee break

Session 5: Enzymology & Stringent Response

Chair: Sandrine Ollagnier de Choudens

11:30 – 12:00

Topic: Fe-S cluster syntheis and quantitative kinetics. (Title TBA)

Oral 18: Benoît D’Autréaux (Paris-Saclay University, France)

12:00 – 12:30

“Bioinformatic search reveals novel types of biotin synthases”

Oral 19: Nikolas Alansson (Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France)

12:30 – 13:00

“Stress-induced iron-sulfur cluster damage as a conserved trigger of the bacterial stringent response”

Oral 20: Séverin Ronneau (University of Rennes, France)

13:00 – 13:30

“Exploring the bacterial NO stress response and regulation by sRNAs”

Oral 21: Pierre Mandin (Aix-Marseille Université, France)

13:30 – 

Lunch & Free Time – Conference Guided Activities

19:30 – 20:30

Dinner

Thursday, October 1st

08:00 – 09:00

Breakfast

Session 6: Homeostasis, Interactomes, & Enzymatic Channels

Chair: Beatrice Py

09:00 – 09:30

“Iron trafficking, homeostasis, and metabolism in yeast; characterization of the labile iron pool and modeling systems-level properties.”

Oral 22: Paul Lindahl (Texas A&M University, USA)

09:30 – 10:00

“Decoding the GrxD Interactome: Insights into Fe-S Cluster Delivery and Trafficking in E. coli”

Oral 23: Wayne Outten (University of South Carolina, USA)

10:00 – 10:30

“A hydrosulfide channel connects cysteine desulfurase to the [4Fe-4S] cluster of D-type MnmA for tRNA anticodon sulfuration”

Oral 24: Beatrice Golinelli-Pimpaneau (Collège de France, France)

10:30 – 11:00

“CyaY and TusA regulate ISC- and SUF-mediated L-cysteine desulfurase activity”

Oral 25: Silke Leimkühler (University of Potsdam, Germany)

11:00 – 11:30

Coffee break

Session 7: Cytosolic Pathways, Photosynthesis, & Parasitology

Chair: Simone Ciofi-Baffoni

11:30 – 12:00

“Molecular Decoding Principles Mediating Client Recognition in the CIA Pathway”

Oral 26: Deborah L. Perlstein (Boston University, USA)

12:00 – 12:30

“The Fe-S cluster carrier, high-chlorophyll fluorescence 101, is primarily required for the light metabolism in Chlamydomonas chloroplasts”

Oral 27: Nicolas Rouhier (Université de Lorraine-INRAE, France)

12:30 – 13:00

“The late ISC component ISCA2 supports cytosolic and nuclear Fe-S protein maturation in Giardia intestinalis”

Oral 28: Pavel Doležal (Charles University, Czech Republic)

13:00 – 13:30

“Structure, function, spectroscopy, and biosynthesis of histidine-coordinated [2Fe-2S] proteins”

Oral 29: Antonio J. Pierik (RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany)

13:30 – 14:30

Lunch

Session 8: Sulfur Transfer, Pathogens, & Quantum Chemistry

Chair: Patricia Dos Santos

14:30 – 15:00

Topic: Staphylococcus aureus respiratory networks and iron-sulfur protection. (Title TBA)

Oral 30: Jeffrey Boyd (Rutgers University, USA)

15:00 – 15:30

“The structure of SufBC2D-SufE complex reveals mechanisms of sulfur transfer in the Suf pathway for Fe-S cluster assembly”

Oral 31: Patrick A. Frantom (The University of Alabama, USA)

15:30 – 16:00

“Biosynthesis and functional role of iron–sulfur clusters in carbon monoxide dehydrogenase”

Oral 32: Christine Cavazza (Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France)

16:00 – 17:00

“Reaction Pathways of IspH, an FeS Enzyme in Pathogenic Bacteria based on Quantum Chemistry and Protein Electrostatics”

Oral 33: Louis Noodleman (The Scripps Research Institute, USA)

17:00 – 17:30

Coffee break

Session 9: Human Disease & Mitochondrial Mechanisms

Chair: Mario Piccioli

17:30 – 18:00

“Mutations in FDX2 or NFS1 suppress frataxin deficiency”

Oral 34: Joshua Meisel (Brandeis University, USA)

18:00 – 18:30

“Perturbation of cytosolic iron–sulfur cluster biogenesis reshapes pre-60S ribosome maturation through the [4Fe-4S] protein Mak16”

Oral 35: Daili J. Netz (RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany)

18:30 – 19:00

“Molecular mechanisms of the assembly of iron-sulfur clusters by the SUF machinery in chloroplasts”

Oral 36: Benjamin Das Neves (Université de Lorraine-INRAE, France)

19:00 – 19:45

“Mechanisms of mitochondrial iron-sulfur protein assembly”

Oral 37: Roland Lill (Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany)

19:45

Closing Remarks

20:30 – 23:00

Conference Banquet