The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Protein Folding Dynamics "Order, Disorder, and Aggregation" will be held at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas, January 7-12, 2018. A main purpose of this conference is to bring together experiment, theory, and simulation. Many of the key challenges in the field of protein folding dynamics can only be resolved in close collaboration between these disciplines, and this conference is an ideal forum for discussion between experts in experimental biophysics and experts in theory and computer simulation. This meeting will bring together senior scientists, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students from a wide range of interests and approaches to protein folding dynamics. The nature of the conference allows close interaction among participants, who can share their ideas and results unpublished and published, officially and off-the-record. By bringing together researchers from chemistry, physics and biology to explore recent exciting developments in this field in a concrete forum that encourages open discussions from researchers working on different systems, the new paradigm of cross-disciplinary research is strengthened. The program covers a range of topics, not restricted to, in vitro and in vivo folding, protein aggregation, and cellular phase separation mediated by proteins. The program creates a "Power Hour" platform for senior investigators to mentor graduate students and postdoctoral students on career development in round table discussions and will encourage partnerships between early career and established scientists and cross-pollinates new ideas in research. Particular care will be taken for the inclusion of diversity in ethnicity, gender and age, disability, and geographical location.
The areas covered range from rapid and elementary processes, such as the early stages of folding and the behavior of unfolded proteins to much slower processes involving large molecular machinery, such as folding on the ribosome, and even reaching mesoscopic processes, including protein aggregation, and cellular phase transitions and regulatory processes. For the first time, the 2018 conference is expanding to include complete formal sessions on protein folding, unfolding, and aggregation, and liquid-liquid phase separation mediated by proteins and nucleic acids within a cell.
