All organisms are exposed to harsh conditions. These harsh conditions include environmentally imposed stresses such as elevated temperature and irradiation, physiological stresses such as rapid cellular proliferation, oxidative stresses due to metabolic reactions, and pathophysiological stresses such as pharmacological agents, infection, and inflammation. Even normal developmental or nutritional changes exert stresses as systems temporarily depart from and try to re-establish homeostasis. If unmitigated, stress can lead to protein misfolding and aggregation, and cell death. Recent studies suggest that the ability to sense and respond to stress is critical for normal cell growth and development, and helps protect against diseases that include cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease (e.g., diabetes) and liver disease, and protein folding diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and prion-based disease. Studies in model systems have helped establish these principles and suggest a correlation between longevity and the ability to mount stress responses. There is also an increasing appreciation that the stress response can be pharmacologically modulated, and thus diseases that arise from these phenomena might be selectively targeted.

The GRC meeting will highlight cutting-edge advances in these fields. As in the past, we will continue to emphasize vigorous discussions of recent exciting developments related to several areas of research. These include developments in stress sensing, signaling and gene expression. We will also focus on diseases of protein folding and conformation, the roles of stress genes in metabolism, growth and development, stress gene modulation of infection and pathophysiological states, the cell biology of stress, the chemical modulation of stress pathways, and the roles of stress in aging. Many opportunities will be provided for established and new investigators and for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to engage in detailed but informal discussions. We seek to enhance the dissemination of new information and the formation of new collaborations. In turn, this will lead to advances and broaden our understanding of the role of stress proteins in human health, aging, and disease.