2023 Fibronectin, Integrins and Related Molecules Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar

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Abstract We request partial support for the “Fibronectin, Integrin, and Related Molecules” Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS), February 4-10, 2023 at the Marriot Hotel, Ventura, California. This GRC was scheduled for February 2021, but due to COVID-19-imposed travel restrictions for both US and non- US participants, a decision was made to postpone it to 2023. The primary goal of this `in person only' GRC is to increase understanding of how biochemical and biophysical cues from the extracellular matrix (ECM) control cell-ECM signaling, thus regulating cellular and tissue homeostasis. We will also focus on how perturbations in this dialogue promote diseases in which the ECM is now known to play a key role, such as fibrosis and cancer. The latest research that delineates the way cell-ECM adhesion is controlled will be explored in-depth. We will address how receptor-ECM interaction is sensed and interpreted by cells; how cell-ECM adhesion can be visualized particularly in living cells; and how cell-ECM communication becomes perturbed in diseases and how this may be targeted therapeutically. The second goal is to contribute to training the next generation of scientists, and to foster the careers of junior investigators in this research area. The GRS preceding the GRC will also maximize the opportunity for trainees to present and discuss their research, and to obtain mentoring and networking opportunities from established scientists. Both meetings will bring together diverse cell-ECM researchers and outside experts to share their latest work, thereby stimulating new ideas and solving important problems in this research area. They will generate new collaborations, thereby sustaining and expanding the field, and provide new opportunities to develop novel therapeutic strategies. The GRC/GRS will nucleate around 32 invited speakers that include young/mid-term investigators who are performing the cutting edge of research in the conference topic. In addition to the established invited speakers, each of the sessions will feature talks from graduate students, post-docs and early career investigators. They will be selected from submitted abstracts to create opportunities for discussion of late-breaking discoveries and incorporate exciting research as oral presentations. Moreover, two or three of the best speakers from the GRS will be selected for a short talk at the GRC. The GRS will include two invited lectures by leaders in the field and 12 talks selected from up to 50 of the participants. Both programs will hold poster sessions to maximize scientific discussion, some of which will be selected for talks. New topics for this conference include mechanosensing and mechanobiology; how integrin structures can lead to the development of therapeutic tools; state-of-the-art microscopy to study integrin recycling and signaling; and cell-ECM interactions in fibrotic diseases and cancer migration/invasion. Updates on topics such as tension-sensing and signaling, mechanisms of cell migration, and models of adhesion signaling in health and disease are also included. Overall, this international conference will showcase the major advances in the field of cell-ECM interactions research and will be, as it has always been, the seminal conference in the field.