Considerable advances have been made in our understanding of how cell growth and death are regulated, and the signaling pathways that control these cellular responses. Recently, exciting new advances have been made in understanding how these pathways intersect, and how deregulation of one response impinges on others. It is now clear that oncogenic alterations that drive cell proliferation also activate growth inhibitory pathways, and pathways that signal cell growth, death and survival can be intimately linked and activated in response to the same signal. Tumor cell progression is a reflection of perturbations in complementary response pathways that allow malignant cells to survive and grow. This meeting will bring together areas of cell growth and apoptosis with signal transduction mechanisms that regulate them, to help consolidate our understanding of how these responses are regulated in normal cells and patterns of deregulation that are required for tumor progression. The choice of speakers has been based primarily on the contribution to the overall scientific goal of the conference. The three co-organizers represent a wide range of expertise in the areas of signal transduction and regulation of cell growth and death in cancers, the subjects we are hoping to bring together in the meeting. Bringing together these fields in one meeting is a new step that will be of wide interest to many cancer biologists, and will be particularly appropriate for the new generation of younger scientists entering the field. Fortunately these areas are well represented by experts who are women, who are well represented as both invited speakers and organizers. This meeting will also be of particular interest to the pharmaceutical industry and speakers from companies are also included in the program.
