GYSS 2021 Programme (12 to 15 January 2021)
Morning Sessions
Time Tuesday, 12 Jan Wednesday, 13 Jan Thursday, 14 Jan Friday, 15 Jan (SGT) 0800 Small group informal sessions Small group informal sessions Small group informal sessions (by invite only) (by invite only) (by invite only)
Prof Robert Langer Prof Michael Young Prof David Patterson Prof William Kaelin Prof Thomas Cech Prof M. Stanley Whittingham Prof William E. Moerner Prof Thomas Sudhof Dr William D. Phillips
Opening Address 0900 Plenary Lecture Mr Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Plenary Lecture The New Quantum Metric System: Plenary Lecture Minister of Singapore, Chairman of the Genetic Control of Sleep and Circadian reforms to the International System of CRISPR Revolutionizes Research National Research Foundation Rhythms Units—the SI
0915 Prof Thomas Cech Prof Michael Young Opening Plenary Dr William D. Phillips The Edison of Medicine: Robert 0945 Langer’s Quest to Solve Global Health Panel Discussion Challenges Using Biotechnology Plenary Lecture Plenary Lecture Confluence of Quantum and Computing: The Origins of the Lithium Battery and 1000 Reduced Instruction Set Computers Towards a Future Quantum Economy Prof Robert Langer Future Challenges/Opportunities and Society
Prof David Patterson 1015 Prof M. Stanley Whittingham Dr William D. Phillips Prof Jose Latorre 1030 Panel Discussion Prof Yvonne Gao Plenary Lecture Personalised Medicine Plenary Lecture Moderator: Prof Dimitris Angelakis The Story of Light and Single Molecules: Understanding synapse formation in From Spectroscopy in Solids, to Super- 1045 Prof Jennifer Doudna neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative Resolution Nanoscopy in Cells and Plenary Lecture Prof Thomas Cech diseases: A multifaceted challenge Beyond Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Physiology Moderator: Prof Chng Wee Joo and Medicine 1100 Prof Thomas Sudhof Prof William E. Moerner Prof Gregg Semenza 1115 Networking Networking Networking 1130 Networking After Recordings of the morning sessions will be published on the NRF YouTube channel 1230
Plenary Lectures Panel Discussions Small Group Informal Sessions
GYSS 2021 Programme (12 to 15 January 2021)
Afternoon Sessions
Time Tuesday, 12 Jan Wednesday, 13 Jan Thursday, 14 Jan Friday, 15 Jan (SGT) 1700 Expo & networking/ Expo & networking/ Expo & networking/ Expo & networking/ Small group informal sessions Small group informal sessions Small group informal sessions Small group informal sessions (by invite only) (by invite only) (by invite only) (by invite only)
Prof Ada Yonath Prof Alessio Figalli Prof Aaron Ciechanover Prof Didier Queloz Sir Peter Ratcliffe Prof Caucher Birkar Prof Takaaki Kajita Sir Timothy Gowers Dr Venki Ramakrishnan Prof Joseph Sifakis 1800 Plenary Lecture Plenary Lecture Plenary Lecture Plenary Lecture Biomedical Ethics - The Corona Why is it so hard to make self-driving Neutrino oscillations and small neutrino Ramsey Theory Pandemic and Beyond cars? mass
Sir Timothy Gowers Prof Aaron Ciechanover Prof Joseph Sifakis Prof Takaaki Kajita
1845 Plenary Lecture Plenary Lecture Plenary Lecture Plenary Lecture Optimal transport: from nature to The Fruits of Curiosity The Structure of the Ribosomes Maths is life, life is maths machine learning
Prof Ada Yonath Dr Venki Ramakrishnan Prof Caucher Birkar Prof Alessio Figalli 1930 Panel Discussion Plenary Lecture Panel Discussion Panel Discussion Renewable Energy: A Key Enabler for The exoplanet revolution Hypoxia/cancer Science and Policy Climate Neutrality
Prof Didier Queloz Sir Peter Ratcliffe Dr Venki Ramakrishnan Prof Didier Queloz Prof William Kaelin 2015 Prof Tan Chorh Chuan Prof M. Stanley Whittingham Sir David Lane Closing Remarks Moderator: Prof Vanessa Evers Prof Takaaki Kajita Moderator: Prof Ashok Venkitaraman Prof Low Teck Seng, CEO, NRF Moderator: Prof Subodh Mhaisalkar Prof Bertil Andersson, Senior Advisor, NRF After Recordings of the afternoon sessions will be published on the NRF YouTube channel. 2030
Plenary Lectures Panel Discussions Small Group Informal Sessions
GYSS 2021 Programme (12 to 15 January 2021)
Time Zones Overview (24-hour format)
Time Zone SGT UTC JST CST IST CET GMT EST PST City Singapore Tokyo Beijing Jerusalem Paris London New York San Francisco +8 +0 +9 +8 +2 +1 +0 -5 -8
Morning 08:00 00:00 09:00 08:00 02:00 01:00 00:00 19:00 16:00 Programme 09:00 01:00 10:00 09:00 03:00 02:00 01:00 20:00 17:00 08:00 – 12:00 10:00 02:00 11:00 10:00 04:00 03:00 02:00 21:00 18:00 11:00 03:00 12:00 11:00 05:00 04:00 03:00 22:00 19:00 12:00 04:00 13:00 12:00 06:00 05:00 04:00 23:00 20:00
Afternoon 17:00 09:00 18:00 17:00 11:00 10:00 09:00 04:00 01:00 Programme 18:00 10:00 19:00 18:00 12:00 11:00 10:00 05:00 02:00 17:00 – 21:00 19:00 11:00 20:00 19:00 13:00 12:00 11:00 06:00 03:00 20:00 12:00 21:00 20:00 14:00 13:00 12:00 07:00 04:00 21:00 13:00 22:00 21:00 15:00 14:00 13:00 08:00 05:00
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Tuesday, 12 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time 0900h GYSS 2021 Launch and Opening Address by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Chairman, National Research Foundation Singapore 0915h Opening Plenary by Prof Robert Langer The Edison of Medicine: Robert Langer’s Quest to Solve Global Health Challenges Using Biotechnology
Advanced drug delivery systems are having an enormous impact on human health. We start by discussing our early research on developing the first controlled release systems for macromolecules and how we used them to isolate the first angiogenesis inhibitors and how both of these delivery systems and these inhibitors have led to numerous new therapies. This early research then led to new drug delivery technologies including nanoparticles that are now being studied for use treating cancer, creating the Covid-19 vaccine and other applications. We then discuss approaches for synthesizing new biomaterials, such as biodegradable polyanhydrides, and how such materials are used in treating brain cancer and other diseases. Finally, by combining mammalian cells, including stem cells, with synthetic polymers, new approaches for engineering tissues are being developed that may someday help in various diseases. Examples in the areas of cartilage, skin, blood vessels and diabetes are discussed. 1015h Panel Discussion: Personalised Medicine Moderator: Prof Chng Wee Joo, Director and Senior Consultant, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore
Panellists: • Prof Jennifer Doudna • Prof Thomas Cech
1115h to Networking session 1700h 1700h to Expo & networking/Small group informal sessions 1800h 1800h Plenary Lecture by Prof Aaron Ciechanover Biomedical Ethics - The Corona Pandemic and Beyond
The Corona Pandemic has raised numerous moral/bioethical issues well beyond its strict medical one. Thus the issue of prioritizing treatment (what are the inclusion/exclusion criteria – age, pre-morbid conditions, etc.), the objection to vaccination, the infodemic and faked news, and the important issue of subjects that have been put aside – like climate change, are all issues that have been floated during recent months and need discussion. They constitute part of a greater subject – the revolution of personalized medicine, and the new treatments that are behind the corner, such as gene editing. We are moving from “one size fits all” mode of treatment to a new era of “personalized medicine” where the treatment will be tailored according to the patient’s molecular/mutational profile. This era will be accompanied by complex bioethical problems, from high pricing and limited accessibility of large fractions of needy population to the achievements of
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Tuesday, 12 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time biomedical research, but also by issues of privacy and protection of genetic information of people. The introduction of gene editing technology to the armamentarium of novel therapeutic modalities, will add yet another layer of bioethical complexity to the one imposed by access to genetic information and the ability to predict the future of health course of patients. 1845h Plenary Lecture by Prof Ada Yonath The Fruits of Curiosity
Striving to understand the molecular basis of the translation of the genetic code to proteins, an extremely important process of life, we determined the structure of the ribosome, thus deciphering the mode of function of this extremely complex entity. Analysis of this structure revealed that the proteins are formed within a universal semi symmetric region, which seems to exist irrespective of environmental conditions. Hence, indicating that it may represent a remnant of a prebiotic chemical apparatus, namely the kernel around which life originated. Owing to the vital role of ribosomes in cell life, they are targeted by many antibiotics, each of which paralyzes the ribosomes’ activities by binding to their functional sites. Further studies highlighted mechanisms leading to the global disaster of antibiotics resistance, paved ways for the design of next generation eco- friendly novel antibiotics and initiated investigations on human severe diseases (cancer, anemia) associated with ribosome’s mutations. 1930h Panel Discussion: Science and Policy Moderator: Prof Vanessa Evers, Nanyang Technological University
Panellists: • Dr Venki Ramakrishnan • Prof Tan Chorh Chuan
2030h End
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time 0800h Small group informal sessions 0900h Plenary Lecture by Prof Michael Young Genetic Control of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms
We have identified genes that control the circadian rhythms of Drosophila. Interactions among these genes and their proteins set up a network of oscillations within single cells. These oscillations are autonomously generated, are found in most tissues, and establish rhythms in physiology and behavior. This mechanism is conserved within the animal kingdom: similar “clock” genes regulate patterns of sleep and other rhythms in humans. A common form of human insomnia called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD) is characterized by a persistent and intractable delay in the timing of the major sleep episode. A study of several DSPD subjects allowed us to recognize a specific clock gene variant that affects behavioral, physiological and molecular circadian rhythms of carriers under controlled laboratory conditions. Our results are consistent with the candidate allele encoding a dominant, hyperactive transcription factor that alters sleep and circadian rhythms by lengthening the period of the circadian clock. 0945h Plenary Lecture by Prof David Patterson Reduced Instruction Set Computers
Software talks to hardware through a vocabulary called an instruction set. This talk reviews the history of Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC) from the controversy at its birth through the research and commercial struggles of its teenage years to its widespread popularity today in its adulthood. The second topic is the open instruction set RISC-V (called "RISC Five"), the fifth RISC architecture developed at the University of California, Berkeley. This openness of RISC-V enables any organization to develop and share implementations of the instruction set and run the same software stack. Competition, a free market, and open implementations might lower costs and increase innovation, similar to the benefits of open source software. Open designs also reduce the odds of unwanted malicious secrets being hidden in a processor. Ironically, the slowing of Moore's law might rejuvenate computer architecture, since the underlying transistors are improving more slowly than in the past. RISCs in general and the RISC-V in particular will likely thrive during this renaissance. 1030h Plenary Lecture by Prof Thomas Sudhof Understanding synapse formation in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases: A multifaceted challenge
Synapse formation underlies all brain function, as it determines how circuits are wired during development, and how circuits process information in mature brains. Neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders are characterized by circuit dysfunction that arises from impaired formation, specification, or maintenance of synapses. My talk will discuss our most recent results in this research area, focusing on salient discoveries that shed light on the basic principles involved. 1115h to Networking session 1700h 1700h to Expo & networking/Small group informal sessions 1800h
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time 1800h Plenary Lecture by Sir Timothy Gowers Ramsey Theory
A typical theorem of Ramsey theory takes a mathematical structure with an arbitrary colouring of its elements and finds a substructure all of whose elements have the same colour. There are many such results – I shall present some of the highlights and try to explain why they have attracted the interest of many mathematicians. 1845h Plenary Lecture by Dr Venki Ramakrishnan The Structure of the Ribosomes
'Our genes contain instructions to make the thousands of proteins that are needed for life. These instructions are translated to make proteins by an enormous macromolecular complex called the ribosome. In this talk, I will talk a bit about the structure of the ribosome was determined and also how current work is shedding light on the function and regulation of the ribosome. 1930h Panel Discussion: Renewable Energy: A Key Enabler for Climate Neutrality Moderator: Prof Subodh Mhaisalkar, Executive Director, Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N)
Panellists: • Prof Stanley Whittingham • Prof Didier Queloz • Prof Takaaki Kajita
2030h End
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Thursday, 14 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time 0800h Small group informal sessions 0900h Plenary Lecture by Dr William D. Phillips The New Quantum Metric System:reforms to the International System of Units—the SI
On 20 May 2019 the International System of Units (the SI) experienced its most revolutionary change since the French revolution produced the metric system. Today, all of the base units of the SI are defined by fixing the values of constants of nature, resulting in a fundamentally quantum system of measurement units. This talk will discuss why such a reform was needed and how it is implemented. 0945h Plenary Lecture by Prof Stanley Whittingham The Origins of the Lithium Battery and Future Challenges/Opportunities
Lithium-ion batteries have come from an idea in 1972 to dominate electrochemical energy storage today. They are now in a position to enable the large-scale introduction of renewable energy, as well as electrifying transportation, which will leave a cleaner and more sustainable environment for the next generation. There are ample scientific opportunities to further improve the performance and safety. Today’s cells attain only 25% of their theoretical value. However, as the energy density is increased, the safety tends to be compromised. Examples will include: the soft TiS2 lattice, the layered oxides, LiMO2, and Li2VOPO4, a proof of concept for a two-electron transfer. These opportunities and the technical challenges that need to be overcome will be described in order to open up a discussion. 1030h Plenary Lecture by Prof William Moerner The Story of Light and Single Molecules: From Spectroscopy in Solids, to Super-Resolution Nanoscopy in Cells and Beyond
The optical detection of single molecules has opened up a new view into the nanoscale. One key application is super-resolution microscopy, which enables biological structures and behavior to be observed in fixed and live cells with resolutions down to 20-40 nm and below. Examples range from protein superstructures in bacteria to bands in axons to details of the shapes of amyloid fibrils, cell surface sugars, protein superstructures in the primary cilium, and much more. For super-resolution imaging in thick cells, a new tilted light sheet design makes use of PSF engineering to create a simple, useful microscope. Low temperature single-molecule imaging provides much improved localization precision in order to complement cryo-electron tomography studies. Additional methods development research addresses ways to use ideas from machine learning and convolutional neural nets to enhance image processing of single- molecule data. Combining super-resolution imaging of a static structure with 3D tracking of other biomolecules provides a powerful view of cellular dynamics. 1115h to Networking session 1700h 1700h to Expo & networking/Small group informal sessions 1800h 1800h Plenary Lecture by Prof Joseph Sifakis
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Thursday, 14 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time Why is it so hard to make self-driving cars?
Why is self-driving so hard? Despite the enthusiastic involvement of big technological companies and the massive investment of many billions of dollars, all the optimistic predictions about self-driving cars “being around the corner” went utterly wrong.
I argue that these difficulties emblematically illustrate the challenges raised by the vision for trustworthy autonomous systems. These are critical systems intended to replace human operators in complex organizations, very different from other intelligent systems such as game-playing robots or intelligent personal assistants. They have to understand dynamically changing situations in unpredictable dynamically changing environments. They have to manage many different potentially conflicting goals and plan actions for achieving them. Finally yet importantly, they have to interact safely with human operators.
I discuss complexity limitations inherent to autonomic behavior but also to integration in complex cyber-physical and human environments. I argue that traditional model-based critical systems engineering techniques fall short of meeting the complexity challenge. I also argue that emerging end-to-end AI- enabled solutions currently developed by industry fail to provide the required strong trustworthiness guarantees. I conclude that building trustworthy autonomous systems goes far beyond the current AI vision and advocate a new scientific and engineering foundation addressing this unique and groundbreaking challenge. 1845h Plenary Lecture by Prof Caucher Birkar Maths is life, life is maths
The purpose of this talk is to shed some light on research in mathematical sciences and connections with life. Pure mathematics is primarily driven by curiosity and the desire to uncover the beauty and mystery of abstract mathematical structures. This persuit has ultimately shaped the way we live today. On the other hand, research in applied mathematics is primarily driven by understanding nature, life itself, and almost every aspect of the human civilisation. 1930h Panel Discussion: Hypoxia and Cancer Moderator: Prof Ashok Venkitaraman, Director, Cancer Science Institute, Singapore
Panellists: • Sir Peter Ratcliffe • Professor William Kaelin • Sir David Lane
2030h End
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Friday, 15 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time 0800h Small group informal sessions 0900h Plenary Lecture by Prof Thomas Cech CRISPR Revolutionizes Research
To understand biological and biochemical mechanisms, one must not only observe biology, but also perturb it in specific ways. Before CRISPR, this was possible in yeast and other microorganisms, but primitive in human cells. Now with CRISPR, we can knock out genes quickly and precisely and -- more interestingly -- add tags that allow us to follow individual molecules in living cells to determine their dynamics and function. 0945h Panel Discussion: Confluence of Quantum and Computing: Towards a Future Quantum Economy and Society Moderator: Prof Dimitris Angelakis, Principal Investigator, Centre for Quantum Technologies, Singapore
Panellists: • Dr William D. Phillips • Prof Jose Latorre • Prof Yvonne Gao
1045h Plenary Lecture by Prof Gregg Semenza Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Physiology and Medicine
Hypoxia-inducible factors activate the transcription of genes encoding proteins that increase O2 delivery or decrease O2 consumption. 1130h to Networking session 1700h 1700h to Expo & networking/Small group informal sessions 1800h 1800h Plenary Lecture by Prof Takaaki Kajita Neutrino oscillations and small neutrino mass
Neutrinos have been assumed to have no mass. If neutrinos have mass, they could change their type while they propagate. The phenomena are called neutrino oscillations. Neutrino oscillations were discovered by deep underground neutrino experiments. I will discusss the discovery of neutrino oscillations and the implications of the small neutrino masses. The status and the future neutrino oscillation studies will also be discussed. 1845h Plenary Lecture by Prof Alessio Figalli Optimal transport: from nature to machine learning
Optimal transport theory was introduced at the end of the 18th century by Gaspard Monge to understand the most efficient way of transporting a distribution of material from one place to another to build fortifications. In the last 30 years, this
GYSS 2021 Detailed Daily Programme
Friday, 15 January 2021
Singapore Programme Time theory has found various applications in many problems, both from nature and machine learning. In this talk, I will present some of the applications that have been most relevant in my research. 1930h Plenary Lecture by Prof Didier Queloz The exoplanet revolution
The wealth and diversity of planetary systems that have now been detected have modified our perspective on planet formation as a whole and more specifically our place in the Univers. It also present an opportunity of historical perspectives and an irresistible call to look for signs of life on these new worlds as a way to explore our own origins. I will introduce the audience with the challenges and recent progresses in this new field of research and will touch upon the emergence of a new paradigm for the origins of life on Earth. 2015h Closing Remarks by Prof Low Teck Seng and Prof Bertil Andersson 2020h End