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Early Registration Deadline: January 13, 2027 

Scholarship Deadline: November 17, 2026 

Short Talk Abstract Deadline: November 17, 2026 

Poster Abstract Deadline: February 22, 2027 

Meeting Summary 

Title: Transposable Elements: From Evolution to Engineering 

Date: March 15 - 18, 2027 
Location: Beaver Run Conference Center, Breckenridge, CO, USA  

Scientific Organizers: Irina Arkhipova, Samuel H Sternberg, Ting Wang, and Phillip D. Zamore 

Keynote Speaker(s): Vera Gorbunova, University of Rochester 

About half of the human genome and a significant fraction of most other genomes correspond to transposable elements (TEs). TE movements within and between genomes underlie changes in genome plasticity, regulation, and evolution. Recently, TE research was propelled by information from telomere-to-telomere genomes, metagenomes, 3D-maps of genome organization, single-cell expression profiles across tissues and development, high-resolution structures of macromolecular complexes, and massive computational predictions of protein structures and interactomes. New technologies re-invigorated TE research and yielded novel strategies for genome engineering, based on RNA-guided DNA integration and target-primed reverse transcription. Biotech companies are advancing these technologies towards the clinic, and the interest in exploiting TE potential for reshaping genomes continues to grow. Sustaining this confluence of ideas, data, and technologies requires bringing together TE biology experts and newcomers to the field, to showcase the pervasive influence of TEs on nearly every developing area of biology and to jumpstart collaborations between researchers studying every aspect of TE biology: evolutionary and population geneticists, microbiologists and virologists, ecologists and computational biologists, neuroscientists, structural and systems biologists, developmental and cell biologists, biopharmaceutical scientists, and clinicians. Plenary sessions will focus on structural and mechanistic aspects of transposition, TE evolution and genomics, genetic and epigenetic control mechanisms, TE-host interactions, disease and therapeutics, and TE applications for genome editing and engineering. Supporting early-career researchers is an essential function of the meeting, which will offer career and meet-the-editor roundtables and a methods workshop, and will serve to educate and inspire the next generation of leaders in the field. 

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