Indian Ocean Rim Muscle Colloquium 2009

The inaugural Indian Ocean Rim Muscle Colloquium was held at the University of Western Australia from January 21-23, 2009 to bring together leading muscle researchers from India, Singapore and Australia and develop collaborations in the Indian Ocean region. This is highly attractive due to the geography, close time zones, biomedical expertise and rich cultural diversity.  Skeletal muscle research has important implications for Medicine, Public Health (e.g the ageing population and the epidemic of diabetes), Agriculture (livestock industries) and Sports Medicine, in addition to contributing to understanding fundamental cellular mechanisms.

This meeting was considered extremely successful.  It catalysed multiple interactions and research collaborations between researchers from the different countries and initiated plans to facilitate molecular diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases in the region. Strong interest was expressed to identify funding mechanisms for collaborative grants between investigators from the different countries to provide fellowships and/or travel support for students/postdoctoral fellows to visit collaborative laboratories for training in specific techniques to further foster such collaborations.   There was much enthusiasm and support for the theme of increased communication and networking in the region with several strong initiatives emerging.  This includes a decision to hold a second meeting within 2 years - planned for January 2011 in Bangalore (India), the establishment of emailing lists and a simple web site to co-ordinate information on regional meetings and funding opportunities, and identification of other muscle researchers around the Indian Ocean.

The meeting was attended by about 50 muscle scientists from India, Singapore and Australia and students (representing also Zimbabwe and Turkey), with 16 invited speakers (detailed in the attachment, p3). The many Institutes represented included, for India the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad; in Singapore the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Proteos, the National University of Singapore and Nangang Technological University; and from Australia the Universities of Western Australia, Sydney, New South Wales and Melbourne, the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and the West Australian Institute for Medical Research. Two days of diverse presentations followed an opening public lecture on the impending treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy by Professor Dame Kay Davies (UK). The weather was beautiful and the Swan river sparkled.

Talks covered a wide range of topics as outlined in the program

In brief, the first session explored stem cells and myogenesis during development with talks on molecular analysis of a novel chromatin regulator that controls quiescence and differentiation (Dhawan); a chemotherapeutic approach to ablate resident host cells and enhance donor cell engraftment for cell therapy (Gunning); the roles of Wsp and leucine rich repeat transmembrane proteins in myofibre formation during development in drosophila (VijayRaghavan) and mouse models (Haynes); and factors controlling myofibre type development in zebra fish (Ingham) and human disease (Clarke). The afternoon expanded to new zebrafish models to study muscular dystrophies (Currie), the importance of oxidative stress in dystrophy (Taneja), new imaging modalities for analysis of intact muscles (Klyen) and ways of investigating and modulating gene expression in vivo with respect to the livestock industry (White), gene splicing (Fletcher) and use of viral vector technology (Gregorevic). 

The next day opened with a focus on the cytoskeleton and actin-based myopathies with talks on the ACTN3 gene for speed (North), fetal actin replacement therapy (Nowak), a new alpha-actin EGFP mouse model (Ravenscroft), novel actin/tropomyosin filaments involved in glucose homeostasis (Hardeman) and physiological studies of muscle stretch related to titin (Pinniger). The morning concluded with discussions on factors influencing muscle mass and the roles of IGF-1 (Shavlakadze) and TNF (Grounds).  The themes of myogenesis, disease and therapy were maintained in the afternoon with talks on the role of â-adrenergic signalling in skeletal muscle growth and regeneration (Lynch) and the role of the ECM (Gorman) and LIF in myogenesis (Hunt). This was followed by a critical overview of progress on molecular therapies for potential clinical treatment of DMD (Davies), the current status of the clinical exon-skipping trials for DMD (Wilton) and the importance of neurogenetics to identify the basis of muscle diseases to facilitate pre-natal diagnosis and treatment in the region (Laing). 

This new Colloquium was made possible by generous support from the Vice Chancellor of the University of Western Australia and the Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences (India initiative) UWA, with additional funding from the Australian Research Council Network for Genes and Early Development (NGED) and the Australian and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB) plus vital administrative assistance from the School of Anatomy & Human Biology with the website.  We sincerely thank these sponsors for making this meeting possible. 

In closing , we bring to your attention two meetings soon to be held in India: 

• First Asian Conference on DMD, Bangalore, Feb 28 - March 1 www.duchenne-community.org
• 8th Asian Oceanian Myology Centre meeting, Mumbai, May 23-24, 2009 http://www.aomcviii.in/

Professor Miranda Grounds, School of Anatomy & Human Biology, The University of Western Australia. 
February 12th, 2009

On behalf of the Organising Committee:
Kristen Nowak,
Gina Ravenscroft,
Connie Jackaman,
Thea Shavlakadze,
Felicity Waters,
Steve Wilton.

Tel: 6488 3290  Fax: 6488 1051

International prefix +61 8; Within Australia prefix +08

INVITED SPEAKERS Indian Ocean Rim Muscle Colloquium, 2009

International

• K .VijayRaghavan, Professor and Director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore (www.ncbs.res.in)  Research on muscles and locomotion using Drosophila models. 
  Myofibre formation during Drosophila metamorphosis and the role of Wsp 
• Jyotsna Dhawan, is a senior scientist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad India www.ccmb.res.in and in 2009 is relocating to a new Stem Cell Institute at the NCBS in Bangalore, as Professor and Dean.  Research into molecular regulation of muscle stem cells in mammalian systems. Quiescence and stem cell function: Benefits of a modest lifestyle
• Ravi Kambadur, A/Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, Nangang Technological University, Singapore. http://www.sbs.ntu.edu.sg/staff/Kravi/ Research into myostatin in skeletal muscle development growth and ageing.    
  Alleviation of sarcopenic muscle loss by myostatin antagonists
• Reshma Taneja, A/Professor in the Department of Physiology, National University of Singapore.  Research into regulation of skeletal myogenesis, adipogenesis and the cellular stress response. http://medicine.nus.edu.sg/phys/FacultyMembers_Reshma.htm  
  Increased oxidative stress and muscle degeneration in mice lacking Stra13 and dystrophin
• Philip Ingham, Professor and Deputy Director of Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Proteos, Singapore.  Research into molecular development of skeletal muscle using zebra fish models. http://www.shef.ac.uk/bms/research/ingham   
  A transcriptional regulatory network controlling muscle fibre type differentiation
• Kay Davies Professor and Head of the Department of Human Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, UK, awarded the Honour of Dame of the British Empire in 2008, a Governor of the Wellcome Trust and Visiting Professor, UWA. Research into molecular genetics and therapies for muscular dystrophy, including biotechnology expertise. http://www.mrcfgu.ox.ac.uk/research/kay-e-davies/ 
  Therapeutic strategies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy 

Australian

• Peter Currie, Deputy Director of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI), Monash, Victoria.  Research on evolution and molecular control of muscle development in fish and models of muscle disease using zebrafish. http://www.victorchang.edu.au/research/ProfPeterCurrie.cfm?cid=73  
  Spontaneous recovery in a zebrafish muscular dystrophy mutant
• Paul Gregorevic,  Pfizer Australia Senior Research Fellow, Head of the Muscle Research & Therapeutics Development laboratory, Division of Metabolism & Obesity, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria.. Research into cellular mechanisms that regulate muscle growth and wasting, employing recombinant viral vectors to selectively alter gene expression in mouse models. http://www.bakeridi.edu.au/research/muscle_myology/  
  Exploring the mechanisms of muscle adaption using custom made viral vectors
• Miranda Grounds, Professor and Head of the Muscle Research Group, in the School of Anatomy & Human Biology, UWA. Research into factors controlling the damage and repair of skeletal muscle, muscle wasting and hypertrophy and potential treatments for muscle diseases. http://school.anhb.uwa.edu.au/personalpages/grounds/ 
  Role of TNF in necrosis of dystrophic myofibres and in muscle atrophy
• Edna Hardeman, Professor in Department of Anatomy, The University of New South Wales; and Head of the Muscle Development Research Unit, Children’s Hospital; Westmead, Sydney, NSW. Research on muscle gene transcription related to the cytoskeleton and nemaline myopathy.  http://www.medfac.usyd.edu.au/people/academics/profiles/ehardeman.php   
  Novel cytoskeletal actin filaments in muscle involved in glucose homeostasis
• Nigel Laing, Professor (UWA) and Head of the Neuromuscular Diseases Group, West Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR), UWA.  Research into molecular basis of muscle disease and molecular neurogenetic clinical diagnostics.http://www.waimr.uwa.edu.au/team/nlaing.html 
  Disease discovery beside the Indian Ocean - how to maximise benefit
• Gordon Lynch, Professor and Head of the Basic and Clinical Myology Laboratory, Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne, Victoria. http://www.physiology.unimelb.edu.au/lab-muscle/index.asp  Research into therapies to treat muscle wasting disorders.
  Novel roles for â-adrenergic signalling in skeletal muscle growth and regeneration
• Kathryn North, Douglas Burrows Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney; Head of the Institute for Neuromuscular Research, Children’s Hospital; Westmead, Sydney, NSW.  Research on Molecular genetics of human skeletal muscle diseases. http://www.inmr.com.au/ourteam_member.asp?id=2
  A gene for speed: ACTN3, evolution and athletic performance
• Kristen Nowak, West Australian Young Scientist of the year in 2008 and a key scientist with the Neuromuscular Diseases group (WAIMR) at UWA. Research into animal models of actin-related muscle diseases  http://www.waimr.uwa.edu.au/team/knowak.html 
  Cardiac actin expression rescues skeletal muscle actin disease; a fetal actin is compatible with enhanced endurance and leanness
• Thea Shavlakadze,  a leading young scientist in the Muscle Research Group in the School of Anatomy & Human Biology, UWA. Research on IGF-1 isoforms, and the molecular basis of muscle hypertrophy and atrophy  http://school.anhb.uwa.edu.au/personalpages/grounds/       
  The critical importance of growth for IGF-1 mediated skeletal muscle hypertrophy 
• Steve Wilton, Professor and Head of Molecular Genetic Therapies Group,
  Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute (ANRI), WA.  Research into molecular therapy, especially the design of antisense oligonucleotides to modify pre-mRNA processing http://www.anri.org.au/index.php/main/research/group/17/    
  Challenges facing exon skipping trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy