The principal objective of the 2006 Cell Biology of Metals Gordon Conference is to provide a forum for presentation of new developments and for exchanging ideas in this emerging field. The meeting will bring together scientists, ranging from established investigators to graduate students, to present and discuss the most recent advances in eukaryotic cell biology involving copper, iron and zinc ions and the corresponding metalloproteins. The cell biology of metals encompasses the uptake, distribution and use of metals in cells and organelles. Metals are taken up across membranes and are directed to various cellular destinations, ultimately finding their way into the correct metalloproteins. Intricate mechanisms control uptake, distribution, trafficking, and insertion into proteins. Transporters, chelators, metal cofactors, chaperones (classic sense), metallochaperones, transcription factors and translation regulators are involved. The level of complexity equals that of the protein trafficking pathways that have been characterized in modern cell biology. An important goal is to understand how protein trafficking pathways and metal trafficking pathways are integrated and intersect. Other goals are to understand how cells achieve metal ion homeostasis, how cells sense diverse metal ions, and how homeostatic mechanisms for different metal ions are interconnected. Cellular malfunction or disease ensue if any of the steps in metal homeostasis are perturbed, and the meeting will bring out these disease links. ? ? The sessions will generally be organized according to cell structure, cutting across metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mo) and evolutionary categories. Sessions are planned to address transport of metals into cells, metals in endocytic and secretory compartments, mitochondria and iron, mitochondria and copper, metals in chloroplasts, metal cofactors, metals in global regulatory programs and metal allocation and sensing. The novelty of the Cell Biology of Metals Conference lies in its unique focus on cell biological issues related to metal ions and the focus on multiple physiological ions. ? ? ? ?
