The Mechanics of Building Cells in Plants and Microbes

The Plant and Microbial Cytoskeleton Gordon Research Conference brings together researchers studying diverse systems to understand how the cytoskeleton helps to pattern cells and organisms, using quantitative and interdisciplinary approaches. By emphasizing work on walled organisms, this conference spans prokaryotic to eukaryotic systems in order to uncover potential cross over and molecular similarities that have evolved to shape cells. Importantly by comparing the molecular mechanisms in these diverse systems, fundamental principles are emerging governing cellular morphogenesis and cell division. This conference brings together geneticists, cell biologists, physicists, computational biologists, and biochemists, all of whom use inter-disciplinary approaches to decipher the cytoskeletal basis of cell shape. Within cells the cytoskeleton controls many aspects of shape, and this conference will focus on topics including cell wall construction, cell division, cell polarity, intracellular compartmentalization, membrane trafficking, and chromosome segregation. Presentations will include cutting edge approaches such as quantitative imaging, including super-resolution microscopy, in vitro reconstitution of cellular systems and computational modeling. The program will include approximately thirty talks from invited speakers, another 12-15 talks from submitted abstracts, and many lively poster sessions. The meeting will provide scientists from all career stages with ample opportunities to present, meet, discuss and brainstorm.