Abstract

The biennial Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Intermediate Filaments has been meeting since 1990 and brings together a lively and diverse group of scientists from various fields of cell biology, biomedical engineering, mechano- and stem cell biology and their application in clinical and biopharma arenas. It is the role that intermediate filaments play in the integration of both intra- and inter-cellular processes and signals that marks them out as the most important "social networking" platform in cell biology. The goal of this meeting is to not only highlight the very best and exciting work that is happening in our field, but also to spur new ideas and collaborations for all attendees across the biomedical, clinical and pharma spectra. The program will feature an exciting selection of invited speakers along with presentations based on submitted abstracts. We will also plan to have one or more "Poster Preview" sessions at the end of morning sessions for poster presenters to highlight their research in quick-fire talks. The 2018 GRC meeting will take place from June 24-29, 2018 at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Conference Center in Lucca (Barga), Italy. It is chaired by Milos Pekny with the support of Jan Lammerding and Roy Quinlan as vice-chairs. Our GRC meeting is preceded by a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) led by Clarissa Koch and Oscar Stassen on June 23-24th. The GRS will take “Turning scientific discoveries into products and therapeutics” as their theme and will be an exciting opportunity for graduate students, postdocs, and early career researchers to become involved in the intermediate filament community. Please help us spread the word and encourage your students and postdocs to attend!