About the Conference

The 5th Indian Zebrafish Investigator’s Meeting 2024 (iZIM 2024) will be held at ILS Bhubaneshwar. Like previous editions, the meeting aims to bring together researchers using zebrafish as a model system to investigate diverse aspects of biology, from pharmacology, developmental genetics, neurobiology, and behavior to ecology.

The meeting will feature talks from young and senior researchers in the field, posters from students, and technique-driven modules.

Thematic Areas

Development and Genetics

Talks and discussions will focus on fundamental aspects and advances in the field of zebrafish early development, organogenesis and genetics.

Disease Modeling and Regenerative Medicine

Discussions on zebrafish as a model for human diseases and regenerative medicine.

Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms

This theme will cover the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying various biological processes studied using zebrafish as a model.

Innovative Techniques and Tools in Zebrafish Research

This theme will include discussions on the new techniques and tools using zebrafish as model such as genome editing, genomics, RNA sequencing and imaging modalities.

Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Maneesha S. Inamdar

Director, DBT-inSTEM, India

Dr. Sudipto Roy

Senior Principal Investigator, A*STAR - IMCB, Singapore

Prof. Mahendra Sonawane

Professor and Co-chair, DBS, TIFR, Mumbai, India

Dr. Cecilia L. Winata

Max Planck/IIMCB group leader, IIMCB, Warsaw, Poland

Confirmed Speakers

Prof. Didier Stainier

MPI for Heart and Lung Research, Germany

(Online)

Prof. Koichi Kawakami

National Institute of Genetics, Japan

Dr. Chetana Sachidanandan

IGIB, New Delhi

Dr. Amrutha Swaminathan

IISER - Thiruvananthapuram

Dr. Megha Kumar

CCMB, Hyderabad

Dr. Shilpi Minocha

IIT-D, New Delhi

Dr. Mallika Chatterjee

Amity University, Noida

Dr. Shruthy Suresh Aggarwal

IGIB, New Delhi

Dr. Aurnab Ghose

IISER, Pune

Dr. Ajay Sriram Mathuru

NUS, Singapore

Dr. Guillermo Barreto

CNRS, University of Lorraine, France

Dr. Amaresh Panda

ILS, Bhubaneswar

Dr. Rudra Nayan Das

Shiv Nadar University, New Delhi

Dr. Agnik Dasgupta

CHINTA, Kolkata

Dr. Moulinath Acharya

BRIC-NIBMG, Kalyani

Dr. Anita Roy

IIT-Delhi, New Delhi

Dr. Tressa Jacob

Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai

Dr. Anuradha Bhat

IISER-Kolkata

Dr. Nitya Ramkumar

Duke University, USA

Dr. Tathagata Biswas

Stowers Institute for Medical Research, USA

Patrons

Dr. Debasis Dash

Director, ILS, Bhubaneswar

Dr. Vinay Nandicoori

Director, CCMB, Hyderabad

Dr. Prashant K. Dhakephalkar

Director, ARI, Pune

Organizers

Dr. Rajeeb K. Swain, ILS, Bhubaneswar

Dr. Megha Kumar, CCMB, Hyderabad

Dr. Chinmoy Patra, ARI, Pune

Schedules

November 6, 2024

Time	Speaker	Title of the Talk
1:00 - 2:00	LUNCH	[ILS Lawns]
2:00 - 3:00	REGISTRATION & POSTER SET-UP	Location: Auditorium
Inauguration
3:00 - 3:30	Dr. Debasis Dash (Director, ILS, Bhubaneswar) Dr. Prashant Dhakephalkar (Director, ARI, Pune) Dr. Rajeeb K. Swain (Co-organizer, 5th IZIM)	Welcome Address, Special Remarks, The Zebrafish Community in India and the Evolution of IZIM
Session I: Moderators - Prof. Aurnab Ghose & Dr. Megha Kumar
3:30 - 4:30	Prof. Maneesha Inamdar (InSTEM, Bengaluru) - Introduction by Megha Kumar	Making Blood: Tuning Stem Cell Function in Development, Aging and Disease
4:30 - 4:45	Dr. Alex Eve (Company of Biologists, UK)	The Company of Biologists: Supporting Biologists, Inspiring Biology (Online)
4:45 - 5:05	Short Break	Tea & Snacks [Auditorium Foyer]
5:05 - 5:17	Ms. Stuti Gupta (IIT-Bombay, Mumbai)	A Pioneering Role For RNA Polymerase in Zygotic Genome Activation
5:17 - 5:29	Ms. Bhagyashree Joshi (ARI, Pune)	Celsr1b is Essential for the Neuronal and Cardiac Development of Zebrafish
5:29 - 5:41	Ms. Srashti Jyoti Agrawal (CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi)	From Mutations to Models: Zebrafish as a Tool for Investigating Mitochondrial Disorders
5:41 - 6:41	Prof. Mahendra Sonawane (TIFR, Mumbai) - Introduction by Rajeeb Swain	Cell Geometries and Patterns on the Cell Surface
6:41 - 7:30	Visit to ILS Facilities in Small Groups	Facilities: NGS, Flowcytometry, Microscopy
7:30 pm Onwards	Dinner Hosted by the Director, ILS	Location: ILS Lawns

November 7, 2024

Time	Speaker	Title of the Talk
Session II: Moderators - Dr. Mamoni Dash & Dr. Anuradha Bhat
09:30 - 09:50	Dr. Chetana Sachidanandan (CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi)	KAT3 genes in the zebrafish: window to development and disease
09:50 - 10:10	Dr. Mallika Chatterjee (AMITY University, Noida)	A High-throughput Screening of Neurobehavioral Changes in Larval Zebrafish with Small Molecule-mediated Glycosaminoglycan Modulation
10:10 - 10:30	Dr. Ajay Sriram Mathuru (NUS, Singapore)	A neurogenetics approach using zebrafish to understand addiction and comorbid mental health disorders
10:30 - 10:42	Mr. Gautam Mohapatra (IIT-Madras, Chennai)	Lactate Receptor Agonists: A Novel Approach to Epilepsy Treatment
10:42 - 10:54	Ms. Usharani Nayak (ILS, Bhubaneswar)	Function of cfap300 during zebrafish development and organogenesis
10:54 - 11:06	Ms. Laishram Shandyarani Devi (IBSD, Imphal)	Antioxidant and Anti-Obesity Potential of hydroalcoholic extract Cinnamomum zeylanicum bark using Zebrafish model
11:06 - 11:25	TEA BREAK & GROUP PHOTO	Tea [auditorium foyer]
Session III: Moderators - Dr. Hetal Roy & Dr. Punit Prasad
11:30 - 11:50	Dr. Guillermo Barreto (University of Lorraine, France)	3D genome organization in lung cancer cells is affected by the chemotherapy drug Erlotinib
11:50 - 12:10	Dr. Amaresh C. Panda (ILS, Bhubaneswar)	Regulation of myogenesis by circular RNA-mRNA interactions
12:10 - 12:30	Dr. Anita Roy (IIT-Delhi, New Delhi)	Thrombocyte development: A tale of thrombopoietin receptor
12:30 - 12:50	Dr. Rudra Narayan Das (Shiv Nadar University, Noida)	Redefining Endothelial Cell Identity in Vertebrates: Insights from the Zebrafish Model
12:50 - 1:00	Platinum Sponsor - Technical Talk	Thermo Fisher Scientific
1:00 - 2:00	LUNCH	[ILS Lawns]
Session IV: Moderators - Prof. Anirban Chakraborty & Dr. Gunjan Mandal
2:00 - 2:10	Platinum Sponsor - Technical Talk	Tecniplast (Online)
2:10 - 2:30	Dr. Shruty Suresh Agarwal (CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi)	Identifying the seeds of cancer metastasis
2:30 - 2:50	Dr. Nitya Ramkumar (Duke University, USA)	Phased ERK-responsiveness and developmental robustness regulate teleost skin morphogenesis
2:50 - 3:02	Ms. Babita Sharma (CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi)	Mgat4b mediated selective N-glycosylation regulates melanocyte development and melanoma progression
3:02 - 3:14	Vinoth S. (SRM University, Chennai)	A pro-angiogenic and hypoxic zebrafish model as a novel platform for anti-angiogenic drug screening
3:14 - 3:30	Dr. Manoharan Saravanan (Bharathiar University)	Environmentally relevant Ketoprofen induces developmental, antioxidant and biochemical toxicity in Zebrafish
3:30 - 5:00	POSTER SESSION - I	POSTER (Odd numbers), Tea & Snacks, Interaction with the sponsors
Session V: Moderator - Dr. Anil Kumar Challa
5:00 - 5:20	Dr. Tathagata Biswas (Stowers Institute for Medical Research)	Fish(ing) in the Hi(gh)-C(sea)
5:20 - 5:32	Swetha Nagarajan (TIFR, Mumbai)	Deciphering the mechanisms behind termination of convergence-extension flows in somites
5:35 - 6:35	Dr. Sudipto Roy (IMCB, A*STAR, Singapore) - Introduction by Anil K. Challa	Zebrafish as a model to study muscle development and cilia
6:35 - 7:30	Community Session & Organization of 6th IZIM 2026	Moderated by Dr. Anil Kumar Challa and Dr. Chetana Sachidanandan
7:30 pm onwards	DINNER	[ILS Lawns]

November 8, 2024

Time	Speaker	Title of the Talk
Session VI: Moderators - Prof. Amal Kanti Bera & Dr. Shantibhusan Senapati
09:30 - 09:50	Prof. Aurnab Ghose (IISER, Pune)	Hunger Games: The ballad of CART and NPY
09:50 - 10:10	Dr. Tressa Jacob (Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai)	A novel method to isolate Schreckstoff and its application to study anxiety in Zebrafish
10:10 - 10:30	Dr. Megha Kumar (CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad)	Role of mitotic regulators in cell fate specification and embryogenesis
10:30 - 10:50	Prof. Sanjeev Galande (Shiv Nadar University, Noida)	Role of transcription factor Sp1 and its interplay with the Wnt/β-catenin pathway during development
10:50 - 11:05	Dr. Saroj Kumar Das (KKS College, Balasore)	Unravelling the neurotoxic potential of acetyl tributyl citrate towards precocious development of neurodegenerative phenotypes in zebrafish model
11:05 - 11:25	TEA BREAK & GROUP PHOTO	Tea [auditorium foyer]
Session VII: Moderators - Dr. Sreelaja Nair & Dr. Amrutha Swaminathan
11:30 - 12:30	Dr. Cecilia Winata (IIMCB, Poland) - Introduction by Sreelaja Nair	Genomics dissection into heart development and disease
12:30 - 12:45	Mr. Archisman Mohapatra (IIT – Bombay, Mumbai)	A Novel Peptide-Based Therapeutic Approach for Hypertriglyceridemia: Targeting Kinesin-1-Mediated Lipid Droplet Trafficking
12:45 - 12:57	Ms. Ananya Palo (NISER, Bhubaneswar)	FRG1-mediated regulation of Nonsense-mediated decay pathway (NMD): Insights into its mechanisms
12:57 - 1:12	Dr. Manjunatha Bangeppagari (SDUAHER, Kolar, Karnataka)	Developmental Toxicity of Para-Phenylenediamine (PPD) in Zebrafish
1:15 - 2:00	LUNCH	[ILS Lawns]
Session VIII: Moderators - Prof. Mahendra Sonawane & Dr. Chinmoy Patra
2:00 - 2:30	Prof. Didier Stainier (MPI for Heart & Lung Research) - Introduction by Chinmoy Patra	Transcriptional adaptation, an RNA-based mechanism of genetic compensation (Online)
2:30 - 3:15	Prof. Koichi Kawakami (National Institute of Genetics, Japan) - Introduction by Mahendra Sonawane	The study of functional neural circuits and a rare neurological disease in zebrafish
3:15 - 3:35	Dr. Shilpi Minocha (IIT-Delhi, New Delhi)	From Injury to Recovery: Molecular Mechanisms of CNS Regeneration in Zebrafish
3:40 - 5:10	POSTER SESSION - II	POSTER (Even Numbers), Tea & Snacks, Interaction with the sponsors
Session IX: Moderators - Dr. Mallika Chatterjee & Dr. Amaresh Panda
5:15 - 5:35	Dr. Moulinath Acharya (NIBMG, Kalyani)	A post-GWAS functional investigation suggests involvement of CNTNAP5 in glaucomatous neurodegeneration
5:35 - 5:47	Mr. Samudra Gupta (University of Calcutta, Kolkata)	Unveiling the Sirtuin1 mediated epigenetic framework of HIPPO pathway modulation during axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury in Zebrafish
5:47 - 5:59	Ms. Pooja Shukla (IISER-Mohali)	Understanding the role of Methyl-CpG-Binding domain (MBD) containing proteins- Mbd3a and Mbd3b during retina regeneration in zebrafish
6:00 - 6:20	Dr. Anuradha Bhat (IISER-Kolkata, Kalyani)	Correlations in personality and cognitive traits driven by ecological pressure in wild zebrafish populations
6:20 - 6:40	Dr. Amrutha Swaminathan (IISER-Thiruvananthapuram)	Understanding the contribution of innate immune factors to establishment of stress-response
6:40 - 7:00	Valedictory - Dr. Mamoni Dash and Dr. Megha Kumar	Prize – Best student talk and Poster (2-3 each) Vote of thanks: Rajeeb K. Swain
7:00 - Departure for Dinner Venue	DINNER

Registration

Registration is over.

Registration Details

Event: 5th Indian Zebrafish Investigators Meeting

Date: November 6 (1 pm) - 8 (7 pm), 2024

Location: Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, 15th October 2024

Registration Fees:

PI / Start-ups: INR 5500 (Includes accommodation and food)
Students/Postdocs: INR 3500 (Includes accommodation and food)
Students/Postdocs (Without accommodation): INR 2500

On or Off campus day care facility is available at no additional cost for 5-6 participants. Email the organizers at izim05@ils.res.in.

Abstract should have a title, list of authors & affiliation, with the name of the presenting author underlined.(For both PI / Start-ups & Students.) Total word count 250.

Registration Options:

PI / Start-ups: Option of Talk, Poster, or None.
Students: Option of Talk or Poster. (Note: Talks will be selected from submitted abstracts, in which case the participant will present both a poster and give a talk.)