Conference Schedule
Four days of cutting-edge research, networking, and collaboration
Talk: 20 + 3 (Q&A) | Short talk: 12 + 3 (Q&A)
Day 1 – 3rd December 2025
Registration
Introduction by the Organizing Committee
Session 1: Infection Biology
Chair: Usha Vijayraghavan & Utpal Tatu
Talk: Kevin Hardwick, University of Edinburgh
Death or disomy: perturbing mitotic kinases in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans
Short Talk: Amey Redkar, NCBS Bangalore
Dissecting the Root-Fungal Interface in 3D Reveals Spatially Distinct Signaling Landscapes
Talk: Rajendra Prasad, Amity University
Tracking Fungal AMR (fAMR) in Emerging Pathogen Candidozyma auris
Short Talk: Anupama Ghosh, Bose Institute
Small heat shock proteins in Ustilago maydis: Insights into functions beyond protection against proteotoxic stress
Flash Talks (FT-I) by Students (5, two minutes each)
Chair: Dr Amanjot Singh, MAHE, Bengaluru
Coffee Break
Session 2: Fungal–Host Interactions
Chair: KN Balaji & Shivaprakash Rudramurthy
Talk: Jeyaprakash Arulanandam, University of Edinburgh
Non-Canonical Mechanisms of Chromosome Segregation in Cryptococcus neoformans: Kinetochore Perspective
Short Talk: Rajesh Patkar, IIT Bombay
Intriguing molecular communication during fungal inter-species interaction
Short Talk: Anindita Seal, University of Calcutta
Endosymbiosis revisited in a 'nitrogen-fixing' yeast and its potential use in agriculture
Talk: Rupinder Kaur, CDFD Hyderabad
Molecular makeover: How chromatin reorganization governs fungal virulence and drug resistance
Talk: Santanu Ghosh, IIT Bombay
RSC chromatin remodeler: a jack of all trades regulating fungal pathogen biology
Flash Talks (FT-II) by Students (6, two minutes each)
Chair: Dr Sahana Holla, TIFR Hyderabad
Cultural Program – Yakshagana by Yakshamandala Troup
Dinner
Day 2 – 4th December 2025
Breakfast
Introduction
Session 3: DNA, Genomes, Chromosomes
Chair: K Muniyappa & Mahipal Ganji
Talk: Shiv Grewal, NIH USA
Stress controls heterochromatin assembly and the epigenetic landscape of the genome
Talk: Altaf Bhat, University of Kashmir
Peripheral heterochromatin tethering in 3D genome organisation
Talk: Devyani Haldar, CDFD Hyderabad
Chromatin dynamics in regulation of DNA replication fork stability
Short Talk: Viji Subramanian, IISER Tirupati
The short and long of chromosome inheritance in meiosis
Short Talk: Mridula Nambiar, IISER Pune
Partner preferences among diverged paralogs determine cohesin loading patterns on chromosomes
Coffee Break
Session 4: RNA Biology & Cellular Regulation
Chair: Shikha Laloraya & Purusharth I Rajyaguru
Talk: Biswadip Das, Jadavpur University
Killing messengers in the nucleus: A novel paradigm of gene regulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Talk: Nishant KT, IISER Thiruvananthapuram
Regulation of Loss of Heterozygosity in Mitosis
Talk: Krishnaveni Mishra, University of Hyderabad
Regulation of gene expression via transcription termination
Short Talk: Rajalakshmi Srinivasan, IBAB Bengaluru
Investigating the Regulatory Crosstalk Between Cytoplasmic Viral RNA and Nuclear Genome During Aging in Yeast
Flash Talks (FT-III) by Students (6, two minutes each)
Chair: Dr Akhilesh Kumar, BHU
Lunch
Poster Session‑I (Odd Numbers)
Coffee Break
Group Photo
Session 5: Cell Cycle & Cytoskeleton
Chair: Kaustuv Sanyal & Sachin Kotak
Talk: Saikat Chowdhury, CCMB Hyderabad
Yeast vs Metazoans: Divergent modalities of actin network nucleation and regulation
Talk: Mohan Balasubramanian, University of Warwick
How does the actomyosin ring actuate cytokinesis in fungi?
Talk: (EMBO‑YIP Lecture) Gautam Dey, EMBL Germany
Yeasts as models for evolutionary cell biology of mitosis
Short Talk: Gunjan Mehta, IIT Hyderabad
The dynamic pool of Rec8‑cohesin is essential for meiotic recombination and transcription regulation in S. cerevisiae
Flash Talks (FT-IV) by Students (5, two minutes each)
Chair: Dr Ritu Pasrija, MDU
Open Evening
Day 3 – 5th December 2025
Breakfast
Introduction
Session 6: Metabolism & Synthetic Biology
Chair: Dipshikha Chakravortty & Ganesh Nagaraju
Talk: Naweed Naqvi, TLL Singapore
The Ferroptosis landscape of fungal pathogenesis
Short Talk: Naresh BV Sepuri, University of Hyderabad
Non-canonical roles of eisosomes in Mitochondrial quality control and mitophagy
Short Talk: Krishna BS Swamy, Ahmedabad University
Adaptive Aneuploidy Facilitates Stress Tolerance and Early Speciation Dynamics in Saccharomyces Introgressed Hybrids
Short Talk: Narottam Acharya, ILS Bhubaneswar
Leading or lagging in the first antifungal vaccine development: A DNA polymerase perspective
Talk: Chandan Sahi, IISER Bhopal
Cytosolic Chaperones and membrane protein homeostasis
Coffee Break
Session 7: Membranes, Trafficking & Organization
Chair: Sunil Laxman & Samay Pande
Talk: Snezhana Oliferenko, King's College London / Francis Crick Institute
Exploiting divergent biology of two fission yeasts to understand membrane function
Talk: Marko Kaksonen, University of Geneva
Molecular mechanisms and evolution of clathrin-mediated endocytosis
Talk: Thomas Pucadyil, IISER Pune
Retromer-mediated trafficking pathways and beyond
Talk: Deepak Sharma, CSIR‑IMTech
Chaperone Mediated Microautophagy in yeast
Lunch
Poster Session‑II (Even Numbers)
Coffee Break
Session 8: Organelle Biology
Chair: Patrick D'Silva & Subba Rao Gangi Setty
Talk: Rajan Sankaranarayanan, CCMB Hyderabad
Role of an Organelle Contact Site Regulator in Eukaryotes: Insights from Yeast
Talk: Kausik Chakraborty, CSIR‑IGIB New Delhi
Mitochondrial surface acts as a scaffold to maintain cytosolic proteostasis
Short Talk: Vineet Choudhary, AIIMS New Delhi
Seipin marked ER sites enrich distinct factors for sterol‑ester‑rich lipid droplet biogenesis
Talk: Sneh Lata Panwar, JNU New Delhi
Flippases at the interface of membrane dynamics, drug resistance and pathogenesis in Candida albicans
Talk: Dibyendu Bhattacharya, University of Michigan
Regulation of morphology and dynamics of ultrastructures in the early secretory pathway
Industry Talks – Cytiva‑Beckman Coulter (Danaher), Nikon
Gala Dinner (JVH Lawns, Gymkhana IISc)
Day 4 – 6th December 2025
Breakfast
Introduction
Session 9: Signaling & Interactions
Chair: Debabrata Laha
Talk (details not provided)
Talk: Sneha Sudha Komath, JNU New Delhi
Cross-connections and switching: Different modes of regulating morphogenesis in C. albicans via the GPI biosynthetic pathway
Short Talk: Parul Mishra, University of Hyderabad
The Ubiquitin Balance: How Shifts in Cellular Pools Reprogram Proteostasis
Short Talk: Devarshi Gajjar, MSU Baroda
Polymicrobial biofilms on urinary catheters: Investigating adhesin dynamics in flow conditions
Coffee Break
Session 10: Tools, Drugs & Resources
Chair: Dipankar Nandi & Sandeep Eswarappa
Talk: Shirisha Nagotu, IIT Guwahati
Yeast Parkinson's Disease Model Exhibits an Increase in Peroxisome Number Independent of Vps1 and Dnm1
Talk: Sriram Varahan, CCMB Hyderabad
A conserved metabolic network orchestrates morphological plasticity and virulence in fungi
Short Talk: Ramanujam Srinivasan, NISER Bhubaneswar
Fission yeast: a platform for prokaryotic cytoskeleton studies to antimicrobial discovery
Short Talk: Anubhav Dhar, IISc Bengaluru
Ultrastructure Expansion Microscopy of Actin Networks via an Internally-Tagged Actin
Short Talk: Nitesh Khandelwal, OHSU USA
The molecular pause button: Cryo-EM unveils ABC transporter auto inhibition