The 2009 Gordon Conference on Muscle: Excitation/Contraction Coupling will present results of the latest research on the cellular organelles and molecular complexes that link excitation to contraction of muscle. The conference will emphasize the multi-disciplinary approaches used, including molecular structure, electron microscopy, biochemistry, molecular genetics, cell physiology, and animal studies. Speakers will address molecular interactions controlling the gating of ryanodine receptors, global and microsocopic calcium movements across the plasma membrane and from the endo-sarcoplasmic reticulum into the myoplasm, mitochondrial calcium signaling, and the regulation of calcium signaling during muscle activity and fatigue. Speakers will also discuss roles of calcium in membrane damage and repair, and in muscle development, adaptation, aging and disease. This conference will bring together investigators who are recognized world leaders in their fields, as well as students and junior scientists who will have the opportunity to present their work in poster sessions and to interact with these world leaders. The organizing committee will select several poster presenters to give short talks during the formal sessions. Overall, this Conference will provide a collegial atmosphere for the exchange of ideas during scheduled discussion periods and during informal get-togethers in the afternoons and evenings and foster new research directions and scientific collaborations.