Diverse Organisms and Common Mechanisms in Cell-Cell Fusion

Cell-cell fusion is a fundamental cellular process in fertilization, muscle development and regeneration, bone resorption, immune response, placental formation, neuronal repair, stem cell-mediated tissue regeneration, and cancer progression. The past two decades have witnessed significant progress in understanding how cells fusion, highlighted by the discovery of transmembrane fusogens in various cell fusion events and the discovery of an asymmetric fusogenic synapse, where mechanical forces generated by actin polymerization and actomyosin contraction promote cell membrane fusion. Despite the diversity of cell types and organisms that undergo fusion, some common mechanisms started to emerge. The 2022 Gordon Conference on Cell-Cell Fusion will bring together an outstanding and diverse group of investigators to discuss the latest advances in cell-cell fusion and membrane fusion research. The conference is highly multidisciplinary and involves approaches in genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, super-resolution microscopy, and cryo-EM and tomography.

Invited talks cover a range of topics including intracellular membrane fusion, virus-cell fusion, membrane organization and lipids, cell-cell fusogens, adhesion molecules and actin cytoskeleton in cell fusion, diverse cell fusion systems, as well as cell fusion and diseases. In addition to invited speakers, several short talks will be selected from the submitted abstracts, and interactive poster sessions will be presented throughout the meeting. A number of travel reimbursements will be allocated for young investigators. Applicants are encouraged to submit a brief abstract describing their current studies and to indicate whether they wish to be considered for a talk or present a poster.