The Satellite Symposium “Chitinous structures in ecdysozoan species” that was held under the 116th Annual Meeting of the German Zoological Society (DZG) took place in Stuttgart at the University of Hohenheim on Sep 9th. The symposium was organized by Dr. Hans Merzendorfer (University of Siegen), and the MOLEN PI, Dr. Umut, was one of the two keynote speakers. Umut gave an interesting historical Talk: “Insect Equals Chitin: The Story of Wigglesworth, the Young Man, and the Old Man,” and talked about the discovery of peritrophic matrix in insects, studies of Vincent Wigglesworth and, finally, the discovery of chitin deacetylation in insects and its outcomes. Umut also moderated “Session III: Structural and functional principles of cuticles in Ecdysozoan species”.
The other keynote speaker was Qing Yang (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China), who talked about “Synthesis, modification, and degradation of chitin in Ecdysozoan species.”
Dr. Yang and Umut subsequently had the opportunity to visit the University of Siegen and Dr. Merzendorfer’s lab. We are grateful for Dr. Merzendorfer’s great hospitality and support in Stuttgart and Siegen. Dr. Ehab El-Awaad is also greatly acknowledged for his kind help and support throughout the symposium and during Umut’s visit to Siegen.
