2006

Kuokka, Annemari; Penttilä, Merja

The 25th International Specialised Symposium on Yeasts, ISSY25, dedicated to "Yeast systems biology - from models to applications" is a symposium in a series organised by the members of the International Commission on Yeasts (ICY), an IUMS organisation. The ISSY25 Symposium has 240 participants from 29 different countries worldwide. Systems biology is expected to have a major impact on the future of biological research. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the best eukaryotic organisms for systems biology studies. System-wide analyses can be performed rapidly and accurately, followed by data integration and model construction. In addition, the number of yeast genome sequences is increasing rapidly. This provides an excellent opportunity for gaining insight into genomic diversity, and how this contributes to the phenotypic differences and industrially relevant properties of various yeast species. The symposium discusses the achievements, challenges and future prospects of yeast systems biology, and how the research community should best use its efforts to create understanding of eukaryotic microbial life. The main financial supporters of the meeting are YSBN Yeast Systems Biology Network EU-Project (LSHG-CT-2005-018942), FEMS, The Academy of Finland, and Lipid Biotech (University of the Free State SA).