The Gordon Research Conference on Cell Death was first held in 1995 in response to the unprecedented explosion of research interest and research in this field. Both the inaugural cell death conference, and the one which followed in 1997, were designed to bring together researchers from a wide variety of specialties, using a variety of model systems to identify the common cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in cell death, and to identify the most critical issues that need to be addressed in this field.

Since 1997, there has been a tremendous advance in our knowledge of how the apoptotic process is initiated and executed (in fact, the central process of cell death has been named "Execution" and this will form an important part of this meeting). The Gordon Conference on Cell Death has evolved into one of the "Big Three" apoptosis meetings held in the US every two years (the others in 1999 will be the Keystone Conference and the Cold Spring Harbor Conference). The Gordon Conference stands out as a forum for cutting edge advance presented in an environment allowing maximum interaction with leaders in the field.

Some of the topics to be covered at this meeting include the molecular basis for the initiation of apoptosis, both at the cell surface and via gene expression and cytoplasmic events, the most recent advances in our understanding of the function of the pro- and anti-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family, the central role of mitochondria and cytochrome c in many forms of apoptosis, recent developments in the regulation of caspase proteases in apoptosis, the generation and characterization of knock-outs of key molecular players in apoptosis, and discussions of specific apoptotic mechanisms in the context of organismal physiology.