Abstract

This conference will bring together cell biologists studying various cellular stress responses and researchers interested in how various infectious agents activate and manipulate host cellular stress responses. Examples of cellular stress responses activated by infectious agents are: the stress granule response, the unfolded protein response, the DNA damage response, responses to oxidative stress and metabolic stress, autophagy, and other protein quality control responses. Many of these cellular homeostatic mechanisms function as part of innate and intrinsic defense mechanisms to counteract infections. Various infectious agents have evolved to subvert and manipulate many of these anti-pathogen mechanisms by utilizing, evading or inactivating components of these cellular pathways. The study of interactions between infectious agents and these pathways provides new insights about cellular stress responses and identifies new targets for the development of novel therapies for the treatment of infectious diseases.