The Gordon Research Conference on Glycolipid and Sphingolipid Biology, the twelfth in this series, promises to be an exciting and instructive meeting on the cutting edge of the field. Important areas of focus will include: novel imaging technologies for glyco/sphingolipidology. role of these lipids in membrane microdomain and membrane dynamics, regulation of the enzymes of glycolipid and sphingolipid metabolism, lipidomics and identification of novel lipids with novel functions, roles of bioactive sphingolipids in signal transduction, gene regulation, and in diseases such as neurodegeneration, metabolic syndromes, diabetes, skin health and cancer. In addition the meeting will cover exciting new developments in cross relations between sphingolipid and glycolipid, model organisms and knockout mouse models, glyco/sphingolipid nutrition, drug development 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 old cities of Toscana.