Connecting Cell Cycle Regulation to Cancer Biology

The 2011 Gordon Research Conference on Cell Growth and Proliferation will focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying eukaryotic cell division. The cell cycle involves a complex series of events, including cell growth, genome duplication, and mitosis. Dramatic progress in these areas has come from experiments performed in organisms ranging from yeast to mammals using approaches spanning high resolution structure determination to systems-level analysis. To continue this interdisplinary tradition, an elite group of international researchers using diverse experimental approaches and systems will discuss their latest findings at this meeting. Sessions will focus on basic events underlying cell division, including how cells regulate size and how they transit through G1; the E3 ubiquitin ligases that drive cell cycle transitions; the molecular machines that carry out DNA replication and how they contend with chromatin structure; how cells sense, signal, and repair DNA damage inside and outside of S phase; how cells prepare for and execute mitosis; and the mechanical events underlying chromosome segregation and cytokinesis. A constant theme throughout these discussions will be how these processes go awry in cancer. One session will focus exclusively on genetic defects that underlie cancer and how these defects can be targeted in the clinic. Finally, the roles of stem cells, apoptosis, and senescence in tissue homeostasis and cancer will be discussed. Uniting experts in these diverse, yet related topics is expected to provide an integrated view of the cell cycle and cancer biology fields and fertilize future investigations. In addition to invited speaker talks, short talks will be selected from the submitted abstracts. Students and Post-docs are encouraged to attend the associated Gordon Research Seminar that will immediately precede the research conference.