As in previous years, the STS Meeting will be organized as a Joint Meeting of the Signal Transduction Society with signaling study groups of the German Societies for Immunology (DGfI) and Cell Biology (DGZ), the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM), the German Society for Pharmacology ( DGP) and the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM). If other organizations are interested in joining the STS Meeting, please contact the current President Prof. Dr. Ingo Schmitz.

Each workshop will start with an introductory keynote talk given by a renowned expert in the respective field of research. All other oral contributions will be selected from submitted scientific abstracts. Of note, all poster authors will have the opportunity to present their work to the plenum in frame of the traditional "My Poster in One Minute” sessions. Details on this years’ workshops, keynote speakers and relevant deadlines will be updated consecutively.

Date and Time

Monday, November 2^nd, to Wednesday, November 4^th, 2020.

Workshop Topics

Workshops will be on:

1. Target Identification and Interaction
2. Differentiation, Stress, and Death
3. Receptor Signaling
4. Immune Cell Signaling
5. Infection and Inflammation
6. Tumor Cell Signaling

Workshop Sessions

All presentations will be given as plenary lectures in the main conference hall. There will be no parallel workshop sessions. Oral presentations will be selected from the submitted abstracts. Unfortunately, only a limited number of abstracts can be selected for oral presentation of 10 minutes plus 5 minutes of discussion. The oral presentations are thematically related to the Workshop topics. They will be selected according to the authors’ indicated preferences by the organizing committee and the Workshop chairpeople on the basis of scientific quality and consistency with the scientific program.

As in previous years Sponsoring Companies will have the opportunity to present their innovative products for signal transduction research as a 15 min plenary lecture in a Workshop session. These presentations will conclude the Workshop sessions to allow for further discussions with the company’s representatives during the following breaks.

Poster Sessions

All accepted poster contributions should be mounted upon arrival and will stay on display throughout the Meeting in an assigned poster area together with the sponsors’ exhibition. This comfortable area will also be the major get-together site during the coffee breaks. Ample time is reserved for poster viewing and discussion before dinner.

“My Poster in One Minute" presentations

In addition, all accepted posters should be presented to the plenum in one of the Poster Workshop as a “one-minute presentation” (one minute - one DINA4 sheet of paper - no powerpoint slide). Please prepare your informative DIN A4 hardcopy and remember that you have 60 seconds to attract all participants to your poster. The document will be projected via document cam onto the projection screen.

Poster Size: The format for posters is DIN A0 (841×1189 mm) in portrait orientation (short side up).

Awards, Prizes, Stipends

STS Honorary Medal 2020

The STS honorary medal was introduced in 2010 as a joint initiative of the STS and the open access journal “Cell Communication and Signaling” (CCS) and represents the most prestigious award of the STS. In 2017 the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (IJMS) became the co-sponsor. The medal is presented every year to an outstanding scientist who inspired scientists all over the world to work on receptors, mediators or genes involved in signal transduction processes. The Medal Ceremonies with informative Laudations and the Medal Award Lectures are meanwhile established highlights of the conference.

A list of Past Recipients of the STS Honorary Medal is available.

STS Science Award 2020

In 2020, the STS announces the 16^th STS Science Award.

This prize is meant to honor outstanding research by a post doc or a junior principal investigator being member of the Signal Transduction Society and we explicitly encourage also early career scientists to apply for the STS Science Award. In 2019 the STS Science Award is donated with a sum of 1500,- Euro.

At the meeting, the applicants will have to present their work both as an oral presentation (which requires the contribution to be selected as a talk by the respective chair people) and as a poster. The jury board consisting of the STS council and STS advisory board members will evaluate the applicants’ scientific achievements and background in general and discuss the meeting contributions in detail in order to finally take their decision on the awardee.

Application deadline: 15^th of September 2020. Please refer to the detailed application information regarding the “STS Science Award”

GBM Innovation Award for Young Scientists

The Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology/Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie e.V. (GBM) announces the 11^th GBM Innovation Award for Young Scientists.

With this scientific award, the GBM would like to acknowledge young scientists especially working on new and interesting methods in the field of biochemistry, molecular and cell biology as well as signal transduction. The prize will be granted to a young scientist (diploma, master, MD or PhD student, or post doc within the first years) who is developing or has developed a novel and innovative method, which might be attractive for all of us. The work has to be submitted as an abstract to the STS Meeting and must be presented as a poster, even if the abstract is selected for oral presentation. The awardee will be announced at the Award ceremony of the 24th Meeting on Signal Transduction 2020. Awards can only be received personally.

Application deadline: 15^th of September 2020. Please refer to the detailed application information regarding the “GBM Innovation Award”.

STS travel stipends

The STS General Assembly decided to continue to distribute a total amount of 3,000.- EUR as STS travel stipends. With this money, the Society keeps on supporting up to ten young STS members (diploma/master or doctoral students) by a travel grant of 300.– EUR each.

According to the stipend guidelines, it should be noted that the acceptance of this STS stipend requires a STS membership, which should be maintained for at least three more years.

Application deadline: 15^th of September 2020. Please refer to the detailed application information regarding the “STS Travel Grant”

After notification 4-6 weeks before the STS Meeting successful applicants will be personally awarded during the STS Meeting in Weimar. The award ceremony will be part of the General Assembly of the Society. Awards will be made payable by cheque and must be cashed by December 31^st of the same year at the latest (expiration date of the cheque).

Poster Prizes

Poster presentations will again be particularly attractive: First of all, there will be ample space for all posters to remain mounted throughout the conference in conjunction with the sponsor's exhibition. Second, all posters may be introduced to the plenum in the famous “one minute - one transparency (no slides)” sessions.

Moreover, we have reserved ample time for poster presentations and discussion.

Last not least, five poster prizes will be awarded (250.– EUR, 200.– EUR, 150.– EUR, 100.– EUR and 50.– EUR). The candidates will be selected by the chair people of the different sessions.

Since it is the policy of the STS to particularly encourage and support young scientists, chair people and heads of departments or institutes are not eligible for a poster award. Be prepared to present your poster at least on the day of your one-minute presentation.

The awardees will be announced at the Award ceremony. Awards can only be received personally and will be made payable by cheque and must be cashed latest by December 31st of the same year (expiration date of the cheque).

Congress Venue

The 24^th STS Meeting will take place in the Leonardo Hotel Weimar, located in the world heritage city of Weimar, Germany.

The lecture hall in the Leonardo Hotel in Weimar is suitable for 250-300 participants. Registration will be handled as first come, first serve. Registration and abstract submission are possible online only. We strongly encourage all STS members and potential participants to register early.

With regard to lodging throughout the Meeting, we arranged for moderate accommodation rates at the Leonardo Hotel Weimar.

Important note: Except for invited speakers and guests, the STS will not make any hotel arrangements. Please place your hotel reservation directly via the Leonardo office or appropriate booking platforms and indicate that you attend the STS meeting.

Travel Information: For detailed information in German about traveling by plane or by car and the location of the Conference Venue please refer to the website of the Leonardo Hotel Weimar.

Registration and Fees

Along with relatively low accommodation rates, the STS aims at making the Meeting attractive and affordable especially for young scientists.

As in recent years, the regular meeting fees cover lunches, dinners (without beverages) and catering during coffee breaks and poster sessions throughout the meeting.

Moreover, the conference book and the traditional personalized STS coffee mug are also included in the registration fees.

We would like to stress that the fees for STS members do not even cover the effective costs for individual participants.

Meeting Rates 2020 – Full Meeting (Registration before September 30^th)

If you register as a student: please provide a copy of your university's immatriculation certificate or a statement of your thesis supervisor (pdf) to the STS-Office (Hannover).

Meeting Rates 2020 – Full Meeting
(Online registration after September 30^th - after October 27^th on-site only and with cash payment.)

Meeting Rates 2020 – Day Passes

Individual day passes are only available on-site at the registration desk and are valid for ONE day only (i.e., Monday OR Tuesday OR Wednesday). Day passes have to be paid in cash (no credit card) at the registration desk.

To reserve a day pass in advance (in order to make sure that you get all meeting material), please contact Detlef Neumann. Otherwise we cannot warrant the availability of printed abstract books for all day-pass registrants.

Cancellation

Important Note: A cancellation of a meeting registration is possible until four weeks prior to the Meeting. In that case only a processing fee of EUR 50 will be charged to cover the costs for administration, program organization etc. The remainder of the registration fee will be refunded. After that date, a refund will not be possible.

Abstract Submission

After your registration for the meeting is completed, you are eligible to submit your contribution(s) via our online abstract submission platform. Please follow the guidelines shown in the submission form as closely as possible.

Sponsors of the STS Meeting 2020

The industrial exhibition of sponsoring companies will take place in an approximately 400 square meter area together with the poster exhibition in order to concentrate and facilitate interactions between the conference participants and the industry.

Application form for industrial sponsors: English or German (PDF)

We are very grateful to all companies supporting the STS Meeting.

Sponsors of the Meeting 2020 are:

Committees

The STS is a non-profit organization that currently represents around 350 scientists. Over the past years, we have developed a fairly efficient and cost-saving routine for the Meeting organization. The Meeting is organized as a Joint Meeting of the STS with signaling study groups of the German Societies for Immunology (DGfI) and Cell Biology (DGZ), the Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM) and the German Society for Pharmacology (DGP).