The Gordon Research Seminar on Microbial Toxins & Pathogenicity is a unique forum for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas. A primary goal of the GRS is to allow trainees to hone critical career skills and build lifelong collegial associations in a comfortable scientific setting. Coinciding with the Microbial Toxins & Pathogenicity Gordon Research Conference, the GRS will prepare attendees for the format of the larger GRC and ideally promote a higher level of participation throughout the subsequent conference.

The focus of this meeting is Frontiers of Microbial Pathogenesis. Speaker sessions will highlight pioneering approaches to the study of host-microbe interactions and mechanisms of virulence. The conference will explore areas including but not limited to toxin structure and function, virulence gene regulation, subversion of cellular processes by pathogens, and activation and avoidance of innate immune mechanisms. The two-day program will include seminars by 10-12 invited speakers, poster sessions by the participants, and opportunities for social interaction. Discussion leaders for the seminar sessions will also be chosen from the abstracts. Attendees who will not be giving an oral presentation are expected to present a poster on their work. Those attendees invited to present a seminar or serve as a discussion leader should also plan to present a poster at the GRS.