The 2011 Gordon Research Conference on Gradient Sensing and Directed Cell Migration will provide a discussion forum for the question of how eukaryotic cells polarize and migrate directionally (also termed chemotaxis). This is a unique interdisciplinary conference that focuses on diverse systems including development, neuronal path finding, leukocyte trafficking, wound healing, tissue repair, model organisms and cancer. The conference is also relevant for researchers interested in the development of therapeutics aimed at disorders where cell migration is involved such as cardiovascular diseases, rheumatic and allergic diseases, asthma, and cancer.

Our program includes established researchers and rising stars working on chemotaxis and will highlight the commonality and differences of molecular mechanisms that regulate migration processes. The conference will emphasize basic molecular mechanisms, new concepts and models, and will also explore links between cell migration during development, wound healing, immune cell trafficking, and cancer. The combination of speakers and topics has been selected with the specific intention of stimulating new ideas across disciplines, discuss needs for developing new methodologies as well as promoting collaborations in the field of chemotaxis research. The session speakers, selected from a variety of fields, will emphasize novel, unpublished results directly related to gradient sensing and directed cell migration. Young investigators will be encouraged to present and discuss their findings in a supportive environment through the invitation of up to 20 additional speakers, selected from submitted abstracts, and by participation in the posters sessions. Throughout the conference, interactions between senior and young investigators will be promoted in both formal and informal settings.