The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism, and Function will be an exciting opportunity to share the latest information on and approaches to the study of nutritional, storage, membrane, and signaling lipids. This research conference has been held every two years since 2009; it is one of over 250 conferences that will be organized in 2013 by the GRC, an organization internationally known for high-quality, cutting-edge meetings. Although the 2013 meeting will be only the third GRC on Plant Lipids, it is viewed as a vital meeting in this field, having been attended by 143 scientists in 2009 and 127 in 2011. The 2013 GRC on Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism, and Function will be held January 27 to February 1, 2013 at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas. The program for the meeting was assembled around the theme of Emerging research areas in the study of lipid metabolism and signaling. Presentations will highlight areas of strong biomedical relevance, focusing on elucidation of lipid signaling and lipid metabolic mechanisms relevant to disease processes, strategies to enhance production of health-promoting foods and supplements, and new lipid imaging strategies. The GRC on Plant Lipids will bring together experts working to create and disseminate new research tools, discovering fundamental paradigms for lipid-mediated regulation of development, physiology, and stress responses, developing new understanding of lipid storage and homeostasis with potential importance to obesity and diabetes, and working to produce sources of nutrition that promote health. For the first time, a pre-conference Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will be organized by junior investigators at the graduate student and postdoctoral levels. Activities during the seminar will be oriented to junior investigators and are intended to provide (1) background that will enhance understanding of science presented at the subsequent conference, (2) opportunities to share research and to network with peers and experts in the field, and (3) peer and expert feedback and supportive suggestions about ongoing research. Discussions at the scientific talks, poster sessions, get-togethers, and other informal interactions at the 2013 GRC on Plant Lipids will stimulate new research directions and provide underpinnings for collaborative interactions that advance the study of lipid structure, metabolism, and function and its biomedically relevant aspects.