Exploring the Role of Proteins as Cellular Organizers by Combining Experiment and Theory

The 2017 Proteins Gordon Research Conference has been conceived with two underlying leitmotifs. The first is to highlight proteins as cellular organizers, while the second and equally central theme of the meeting is the interplay between experiment and theory and modeling in modern protein research. Recent major advances in electron and optical microscopy have revealed amazing structural and spatial organization at the level of protein complexes and protein interactions. These advances will be featured by Andre Hoelz of CalTech who will describe the structure of the nuclear pore complex in the opening Keynote address. Our closing Keynote speaker, Carol Post of Purdue University, will address a combined computational and experimental approach to understanding the regulation of a tyrosine kinase. Several sessions will follow up on the theme of proteins as cellular organizers. Session 3 will address new super-resolution imaging of nuclear organization, while Session 4 will speak to the dynamic aspects of proteins as organizers in vesicle sorting and membrane remodeling. Two other sessions, one on the role of intrinsically disordered proteins and the other on protein biogenesis and interactions in vivo will weave in this leitmotif, as well. Given the ever increasing level of integration of experimental and theoretical approaches in protein science, both theory and experiment have been included in each session. In several cases, individual invited speakers will address both experimental and computational aspects of protein research. In other sessions, a combination of talks, some theoretical and others experimental, will address similar topics. Of the 24 invited speakers, we have worked to achieve a near complete balance between theoretical and experimental protein science. The topics for each session correspond to very exciting areas of protein research, in which major advances are currently being achieved. We believe that the combination of these crucial topics and combined approaches, with outstanding scientists who will speak to their work in these areas will make for a very stimulating conference.