The Gordon Research Seminar on Carotenoids is a unique forum for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas. The focus of this meeting is to explore the broad spectrum of the carotenoid field, from basic to applied research. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: recent advances in carotenoid research in plants, fungi and animal models, genomics and systems biology of carotenoids, carotenoid biosynthesis and cleavage, carotenoids and their derivatives as signaling molecules in plants and animals and the relationship of carotenoids with health and disease processes.