Between Inheritance of Acquired Characters and Epigenetics
Zwischen Vererbung erworbener Eigenschaften und Epigenetik

Die Renaissance epigenetischer Forschungen in der Biomedizin:
Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Perspektiven

The Renaissance of Epigenetic Research in Biomedicine:
Historical and Conceptual Perspectives

9. - 11. Februar 2006

Tagungsort: Ruine des Rudolf-Virchow-Hörsaals im Berliner
Medizinhistorischen Museum, Schumannstr. 20/21, Berlin-Mitte

Eine Tagung des Projekts
Erbe, Erbschaft, Vererbung. Überlieferungskonzepte zwischen Natur und
Kultur im historischen Wandel
im Zentrum für Literaturforschung
Gefördert durch die VolkswagenStiftung im Rahmen der Schlüsselthemen der
Geisteswissenschaften

Programm:

Thursday, 9 February

15.00 Sigrid Weigel (Director of the ZfL, Berlin, Germany)
Introduction: The Relevance of Epigenetic Perspectives for Inheritance
Research

I. Epigenetics, Evolution and Inheritance
Chair: Peter Hammerstein (Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu
Berlin, Germany)

15.30 Eva Jablonka (History and Philosophy of Science, Tel-Aviv
University, Israel)
Epigenetic Inheritance: Heredity as an Aspect of Development

Eörs Szathmáry (Theoretical Evolutionary Biology, Eötvös Loránd
University, Budapest, Hungary)
The Problem of Replication: Before and After, Below and Above DNA

18.00 Bernhard Horsthemke (Human Genetics, Universitätsklinikum Essen,
Germany)
Epigenetics of Human Reproduction

Marcus Pembrey (Human Genetics, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and
Children, University of Bristol, UK)
Sex-Specific, Male-Line Transgenerational Responses in Humans - the
Wider Implications

20.00 Reception

Friday, 10 February

II. Organism and Environment
Chair: Guiseppe Testa (Molecular Biology/Medicine, Branco Weiss Fellow
Society in Science, European Institute of Oncology, Milan)

9.00 Evelyn Fox Keller (Science, Technology and Society, MIT,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
Querying the Equation: Genes + Environment + Gene-Environment
Interactions = an Organism

Henri Atlan (Biology and Society, EHESS Paris, France)
Self-Organization and Epigenetics

11.30 Irun Cohen (Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
Immune System Parentage: Genetics, Epigenetics, and Teaching; Mother,
Father, and World

Nelson Monteiro Vaz (Immunology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais,
Brazil)
Epigenesis of Immunological Activity

III. From Inheritance of Acquired Characters to Epigenetics
Chair: Sigrid Weigel (Literary and Cultural Studies, ZfL Berlin, Germany)

15.00 Maaike van der Lugt (Medieval History, Centre of Historical
Studies, Université Paris VII, France)
Inheritance of Acquired Characters in Scholastic Thought (13th-16th Century)

Stefan Willer (Literary Studies, ZfL, Berlin, Germany)
"Epigenesis": Historical Aspects of the Notion and its Counterparts

17.30 Ohad Parnes (History of Biology, ZfL, Berlin, Germany)
The Acquisition of Inherited Characters: Age and Heredity in 20th
Century Biology

Michel Morange (Molecular Biology, Centre Cavaillès de l'ENS, Paris)
Epigenetic Inheritance Systems: Their Place and Importance in
Contemporary Biology

Saturday, 11 February

IV. (Re-)Invention of Epigenetics in Molecular Biology
Chair: Olaf Breidbach (History of Natural Sciences,
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)

9.30 Frederick Meins (Epigenetics, Friedrich Miescher Institut,
Switzerland)
Epigenetic Phenomena in Plants: Historical Overview and Functional
Significance

11.00 Luisa Hirschbein (Molecular Biology, Institut Curie, Paris, France)
Epigenetic Inactivation: An Early Event in Answer to Gene Richness

Richard A. Jorgensen (Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA)
A Paragenetic Perspective on the Importance of RNA Silencing in Plant
Biology

V. Organism and Organisation
Chair: Ohad Parnes (History of Biology, ZfL, Berlin, Germany)

15.00 Oren Harman (History of Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Israel)
'Different Fields, Different Grasshoppers': Revisiting Geertz and the
Nature/Nurture Debate

Gertrudis Van de Vijver & Lien Van Speybroeck (Philosophy and Moral
Science, Ghent University, Belgium)
The (epi-)geneticization of living systems: Some reflections on
topological causality

17.15 Discussion Panel
Chair: Ulrich Schnabel (Wissenschaftsredaktion "Die Zeit", Hamburg,
Germany) With Participants of the Conference

Contact: Alexander Schwieren
E-mail: erbschaftzfl.gwz-berlin.de
Tel.: + 49 (0)30 ­ 20 192-173

Weitere Informationen unter: http://www.erbschaftsforschung.de