2025 Cartilage Biology and Pathology Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar - ABSTRACT Cartilage supports skeletal development from embryos to adulthood. It also serves as an essential skeletal component of a functional adult skeletal system. Cartilage malformation or degenerative cartilage disease, most notably osteoarthritis, significantly affects the lifespan, quality of life, and productivity of a large proportion of the population world-wide. As life expectancy rises, the personal and economic consequences of these conditions are expected to increase. Since there is an unmet need for treatment and prevention of cartilage diseases, linking expertise from different research disciplines and career stages is of utmost importance. This is a request to support the 2025 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and associated, preceding Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Cartilage Biology and Pathology, which will be held at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center, Pomona, California, March 22-28, 2025. The GRC will cover broad basic and translational research topics with the theme of “Genes, Molecules and Mechanics in Musculoskeletal Tissue Development and Disease”. The overall goal is to foster collaborations that will ultimately lead to novel treatments. The 2025 conference is the 11th in the series and owes its success to three major principles. First, it is the only conference that brings together basic science researchers, clinician-scientists, and biomedical engineers to cover a broad spectrum of cartilage biology, pathology, and other disciplines relevant to cartilage research. Second, the program emphasizes unpublished cutting-edge findings, state-of-the-art technologies, and open discussions. Third, it is open to researchers at all career stages and encourages mentoring, networking, and collaboration among young, and senior investigators. The 2025 Cartilage GRC will highlight recent advances and challenges in understanding cartilage biology and disease. The program alternates between formal presentations, poster sessions and informal discussions. Attendance is limited to 200 participants to promote collegial interactions. Established scientists and talented new investigators will report and discuss their most recent exciting findings and provide insights into challenges towards understanding cartilage biology, disease, and therapeutic approaches. Interdisciplinary collaborations are fostered through a broad base of session topics in an intimate environment, promoting discussion among those in different areas of research and career stage. For example, bioengineers and clinicians will benefit from learning about how tissues develop so that those principles can be applied to engineering and regenerative treatment strategies. The preceding GRS, run by and for trainees, provides a forum for trainees to present and discuss their work among their peers, building confidence for discussion and networking. In addition, the GRS includes a mentoring panel, where trainees are provided with information on career paths, grant writing, and other career topics. We expect the 2025 GRC/GRS on Cartilage Biology and Pathology to empower researchers across disciplines to make significant progress toward understanding cartilage biology and improving human health.
