The 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Molecular and Cellular Biology of Lipids will bring together leading scientists in the field to present and discuss their research on lipid metabolism. The meeting will be held July 19-24 at the Waterville Valley Resort in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire and will continue a near 50-year tradition emphasizing the roles of lipids in health and disease. The meeting will include nine lecture sessions and four afternoon poster sessions. The lecture sessions will cover a broad range of topics, including regulation of lipid metabolism by nuclear receptors, bacterial lipid synthesis and catabolism, genetics of lipid metabolism, enzymes of lipid metabolism, trafficking of proteins and lipids, protein structure in the lipid bilayer, mammalian lipid metabolism, and lipid localization and membrane structure. The 37 speakers in these sessions will report research using a wide range of in vivo and in vitro biological systems and employing multiple experimental approaches. Lectures at this meeting are well known to stimulate lively discussions among attendees who in this case will include biochemists, structural biologists, cell biologists, and geneticists. Scientists who attend this conference derive synergistic benefit from the high quality of the speakers, the diverse experimental backgrounds of the participants, and the resplendent natural surroundings of the White Mountain National Forrest. These benefits in turn drive future advances in lipid metabolism. Participants and speakers will reflect international excellence in this medically-relevant area of science with an ideal balance between youth and wisdom.