Conference: 2026 Cytoskeletal Motors GRC and GRS

This award will support the 2026 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Seminar (GRS) on “Cytoskeletal Motors” to be held July 11–17, 2026 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine. This meeting will be attended by graduate students, postdocs, and junior and senior faculty researchers from broad-ranging disciplines to discuss and advance our understanding of all aspects of the motor proteins that move everything from mitochondria to chromosomes within cells and that help determine cell shape. The interactions of physiologists, biochemists, and cell biologists will increase our understanding of how these motors in healthy cells and organisms from fungi through humans maintain normal cellular function. Knowledge of these processes will advance the bioeconomy through greater understanding of the role of these proteins in maintaining cell health. At the meeting, senior scientists will engage with and train junior scientists. This engagement is a priority of the conference and especially the seminar, through talks and poster sessions that allow participants to present and discuss their research.

This meeting will be attended by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and senior researchers to discuss our understanding of all aspects of motor proteins that bind to cytoskeletal elements. Sessions will focus on recent advances in such topics as “Active Roles for Filament Tracks,” “Biophysics of motors and mechanobiology,” “Mechanisms of Motor Regulation,” and the “Emergent Physics of Motor-Filament Systems,” as well as one session on “When Motors Go Awry: Motors in Disease.” In addition to formal talks, engagement will be facilitated by poster sessions to stimulate interactions between researchers. NSF support will be used to defray registration costs for junior scientists and trainees, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career investigators, as well as limited travel costs for trainees.

This award is funded by the Cells, Development, and Physiology Section in the Directorate for Biological Sciences.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Award Number: 2621535
Principal Investigator: Richard McKenney
Funds Obligated: $15,000
State: RI