The Gordon Research Conference on Glycolipid and Sphingolipid Biology, the eleventh in this series, promises to be an exciting and instructive meeting on the cutting edge of the field. Important areas of focus will include: role of these lipids in membrane structure and function, regulation and structure of the enzymes of glycolipid and sphingolipid metabolism, involvement of these lipids in cellular transport mechanisms, role of bioactive sphingolipids in signal transduction, cell regulation, and in diseases such as neurodegeneration, diabetes, and cancer. In addition the meeting will cover exciting new developments in Lipidomics and sphingolipidology, including mass spectroscopy, systems biology, model organisms, knockout mouse models and translational sciences. With the help of all attendees, we'll try to cover the significant developments and the different perspectives in the field. In addition to invited presentations by leaders in the field, exciting abstracts will be selected for oral presentation, and stimulating posters will be selected for presentation as part of a “hot topics” session. We will have ample discussion after each talk, during the poster sessions, and during afternoon walks on the southern California beaches.