Stress Signalling, Quality Control, Phase Separation, Aging and Disease in Proteostasis

The viability of cells and organisms critically depend on the ability to maintain protein homeostasis (proteostasis) and thus, they constantly adapt the cellular proteome to external and internal alterations. Such alterations include changing environmental conditions, different developmental stages, acute stress conditions such as elevated temperatures, inflammation and oxidative stress, or chronic stress conditions caused by mutations or aging. All these incidents constitute risk factors that provoke a loss of cellular homeostasis that can lead to protein misfolding and aggregation and, finally, cell death. Such a decline in proteostasis is especially prominent during aging and for a number of disease settings such as neurodegeneration, cancer, cardiovascular, or metabolic disorders. Thus, the ability of cells to sense and respond to changing conditions and stress is critical for normal cell growth and development, and helps to protect against aging-linked diseases. Cells activate elaborated stress responses to adapt to changing conditions including specific signaling regimes, a complex transcriptional and translational reprogramming, and the activation of cellular quality control systems such as proteolytic pathways and molecular chaperones to prevent accumulation of toxic misfolded and aggregated proteins known to play a critical role in life-span regulation and aging-related disorders.

The 2019 Gordon Research Conference on "Stress Proteins in Growth, Development and Disease" is the tenth in this successful series and will highlight most recent cutting edge advances in the field of cell stress biology ranging from underlying basic mechanisms of stress programs and of protein quality control systems up to intervention strategies. Special emphasis will be placed on novel aspects regarding stress signaling and regulation of gene expression, phase separation and other specific deposits of RNA and proteins under stress, elimination strategies of toxic protein species, and the role of organelle stress responses to pathology. The Conference's collegial and scholarly environment encourages vigorous discussions of exciting developments related to several areas of stress research. The meeting also provides excellent opportunities for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior group leaders to present their work either in posters or short talks. We will continue recent meetings innovations of "poster preview" talks, and a Power Hour focused on women investigators in the field. The formal scientific program, limited attendance and organized but informal opportunities for interaction make this meeting a preeminent conference promoting deeper understanding of the versatile roles of stress proteins in human health, aging and disease.