The EMBO Workshop, ‘Model Organisms in Cell Death Research’ was held on 31 January–4 February 2009 in the village of Obergurgl, Austria. There was plenty of snow, and the conditions on piste were matched by the exciting talks and discussions indoors. Skiing performances were rather mixed – probably best exemplified by the fact that the ‘Obergurgl Cup’ team trophy ended up in Australia. However, there was no doubt about the high quality of science presented and discussed. This has been a truly outstanding meeting, covering cell death research in model organisms from yeast to mammals, and we are all indebted to Andreas Villunger who – with the help of Andreas Strasser and Gerry Melino – has done a magnificent job in setting up this workshop.

Guido Kroemer (Villejuif, France) opened the meeting. He briefly spoke about a theme that was to repeat during the meeting – that apoptotic proteins also have non-apoptotic roles; in particular, many apoptotic proteins play roles in stress responses. His main focus was the translocation of calreticulin (CRT) from the ER to the cell surface before other signs of apoptosis, and the fact that this contributes to the immunogenicity of tumour cells. The exposure of CRT on the cell surface is dependent on a number of steps, including the activation of PERK, the partial activation of caspase-8, the conformational activation of Bax and Bak, and SNARE-dependent exocytosis of CRT. Disruption of any of these steps prevents CRT from being exposed at the cell surface and interferes with the immunogenicity of dying cells.

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