The 2013 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Red Cells follows the series of meetings that have been held every other year since 1979. This conference assembles established and promising new investigators who are working on all aspects of erythroid cells, from their developmental origins and ontogeny, to transcriptional/epigenetic regulation of its gene expression, to cellular/structural aspects related to its unique membrane structure, and to disorders that follow from aberrations in these normal processes. Sessions in 2013 will include Developmental Biology of Erythropoiesis; Transcriptional Control of Gene Expression; Epigenetics and Systems Biology of Red Cells; Erythropoiesis, Signaling and Red Cell Production; Terminal Maturation; Membrane Protein Structures and Functions; Iron, Heme and the Red Cell; and Red Cell Disorders. By focusing on these topics, the Red Cells GRC continues to be the primary venue for presentation and discussion of the latest cutting-edge basic science, novel insights into human disease, and innovations in methodology that it has covered throughout its history and for which it has become famous. The meeting attracts an international coterie of researchers and provides a lively forum for active participation and discussion within intimate surroundings that facilitates interactions between senior and junior investigators, and between investigators that normally may not readily interact. The conference aims to be inclusive; many of the participants will include postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in addition to investigators who are early in their academic careers. Some poster presenters will be selected for short talks. The opportunities for informal gatherings at meals and in the afternoons and evenings, provides an avenue for scientists from different disciplines to interact, promoting cross-disciplinary collaborations. By the nature of its subject matter and collegial atmosphere, the Red Cells GRC will enhance the understanding of both the normal progression of erythroid cell maturation and the alterations that lead to its pathology. Also this year, the Red Cells GRC will be preceded by a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) for trainees. The Red Cells GRS will give attendees an opportunity to present data and discuss their research as well as future career options with their peers and mentors in the field. Abstracts from these two days by trainees will be selected for short talks at the GRC.