Stress responses require proper communication and orchestration between organelles critical for key decisions in cell survival and death, and crosstalk between networks is required to properly join stress responses with metabolic pathways compartmentalized within distinct organelles. Dysregulated organelle networks are increasingly implicated in cell and tissue dysfunction governing disease mechanisms, including inflammation. For example, the inability of nuclear DNA repair proteins to localize to and act on mitochondrial DNA elicits the release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that trigger inflammatory signalling cascades. Similarly, lysosomal dysfunction can perturb mitochondrial activity, leading to metabolic impairment and DAMP-induced inflammation. This interdisciplinary meeting will bring together experts working on genome instability, organelle biology and immunity to advance understanding of organelle stress communication mechanisms in homeostatic and pathological settings including cancer, metabolic and neurologic diseases, and aging.

Key Sessions

Interactive talks and panel discussions will cover the following topics: 

•    Mitochondria-Nuclear Crosstalk in DNA Damage Responses
•    Mitochondria-ER-Lysosome Crosstalk and Quality Control
•    DNA Damage Responses and Inflammation
•    Organelles in Innate Immune Signalling
•    Organelle Communication in Metabolic and Inflammatory Diseases 
•    Organelle Communication in Neurodegeneration and Aging
•    Organelle Communication in Cancer

Confirmed Keynote Speaker

Zhijian "James" Chen (UT Southwestern)

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Gloria Echeverria (Baylor College of Medicine)
Boyi Gan (MD Anderson Cancer Center)
Vera Gorbunova (University of Rochester)
Roger Greenberg (University of Pennsylvania)
Karl-Peter Hopfner (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Peter McKinnon (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital)
John Petrini (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
Julien Prudent (MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit)
Jeff Rathmell (Vanderbilt University Medical Center)
Gerald Shadel (Salk Institute)
Aleksandra Trifunovic (University of Cologne)
Cornelia Weyand (Stanford University)
Antonio Zorzano (IRB Barcelona)

*more speakers to be announced soon

Target Audience

•    Molecular Biologists studying DNA damage stress responses in the context of inflammation and disease 
•    Cell biologists studying organelle dynamics in physiology and disease
•    Researchers interested in mitochondrial biology and mitochondria-mediated inflammation
•    Immunologists studying organelle control of innate immunity and inflammatory signalling
•    Clinicians and translational biologists interested in organelle-immune connections in neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and aging

Educational Need

Despite growing appreciation for inter-organelle communication in health and disease, there are few avenues for researchers to come together and develop a wholistic understanding of organelle crosstalk. By focusing on stress responses, the goal of this meeting is to stimulate the cross-fertilization of ideas between scientists working in diverse areas of genome stability, organelle biology, inflammation, and disease to nucleate new collaborations and shape research questions in this rapidly advancing field. Moreover, this meeting will be an exceptional opportunity for students, postdocs, and junior group leaders to meet leading researchers in various fields (i.e. genome stability, organelle dynamics, mitochondrial biology, innate immunity, cancer, metabolic disease, aging, etc), while building mentoring networks and receiving feedback on their ongoing work. 

Although the programme has not yet been released, we are able to confirm that the main conference programme should begin no earlier than 13:00 with opening comments on Friday 10 October 2025. The conference will conclude no later than 12:30 on Monday 13 October 2025.