2025 Neural Crest and Cranial Placodes Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar - PROJECT SUMMARY Neural crest cells and cranial placodes share evolutionary and embryological origins and are of fundamental importance to vertebrate development, evolution, and disease. Together, they form the cranial sensory ganglia, but individually they each give rise to an incredibly diverse array of cell types and tissues. Neural crest cells form most of the bone, cartilage, and connective tissue of the head and face, the dentine-producing odontoblasts of teeth, the ciliary muscles and corneal endothelium of the eye, cardiomyocytes and aorticopulmonary septum of the heart, chromaffin cells in the adrenal gland, pigment cells in the skin, all peripheral glia, peripheral autonomic and enteric neurons, and most peripheral somatosensory neurons. Placodes form the sensory receptors, afferent innervation and support cells of the paired peripheral sense organs (nose, inner ear, lateral line system), the lenses of the eyes, cranial somatosensory (trigeminal) neurons and visceral sensory (epibranchial) neurons that transmit a wide variety of information from the heart, gut and other visceral organs as well as taste buds, and the endocrine adenohypophysis, which is important for fertility and homeostasis. Neural crest cells and cranial placodes provide experimental paradigms for studying cell and tissue induction, stem cell multipotency, patterning, morphogenesis, invagination, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, migration, and differentiation. Neural crest cells and placodes are synonymous with vertebrate evolution, and defects in their development underlie a broad range of birth defects and diseases including craniofacial malformations, cardiac and gastrointestinal anomalies, sensory deficits, abnormal physiological function, and cancer. This Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Neural Crest and Cranial Placodes brings together a diverse group of leading scientists working on all aspects of neural crest cell and placode biology. The objectives of the GRC and GRS are to present unpublished data and novel approaches, form new collaborations, mentor junior scientists, and build professional networks. These will be achieved by providing a unique forum that allows for the exchange of scientific ideas, and the promotion of long-term interactions, between senior scientists and junior trainees, all in the context of the supportive environment provided by the GRC and GRS. Meeting these objectives will, in turn, accelerate the exchange of interdisciplinary advances across different model systems, promote technological innovations in the field, and deepen our understanding of neural crest cells and cranial placodes at genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic levels. Recent advances in generating neural crest cell and placode derivatives from human stem cells have major implications for our understanding of vertebrate development and evolution, the pathogenesis of congenital disorders, and the promise of tissue engineering in regenerative medicine.
