Metals in Physiology and Disease

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) series on "Cell Biology of Metals" provides a truly outstanding forum for scientific exchanges, presentations and discussions in the emerging field of metals in biology, focusing on the acquisition, distribution, sensing and utilization of metals in proteins, cells and systems from bacteria to humans. This conference has now become a cornerstone of the field and is unique in attacking broad research questions such as how metal cofactors are assembled to how metal ions play roles in metabolic and infectious diseases. The 2017 Cell Biology of Metals GRC will be held on July 23-28 at Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, VT. The program is organized around the theme of "Mechanisms from Microbes to Humans". Session topics include metals in enzyme function, metalloenzyme structures, metal homeostasis, metal sensing and dynamics, metalloprotein biogenesis and signaling, metals in host-pathogen interactions and metals in physiology and disease. The conference will be comprised of keynote presentations, research and poster talks, poster discussions, and informal scientific discussions. This meeting will bring together an outstanding and diverse cadre of molecular and structural biologists, biochemists, geneticists, cell biologists, physiologists and clinicians to interact and brainstorm on new discoveries, ideas and directions in basic and applied research on the cell biology of metals. Given the increase in the number of metabolic and infectious diseases linked to changes in cellular metal homeostasis, this meeting fills a critical niche for investigating the underlying mechanism(s) of these disorders and for brainstorming approaches for novel diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics.