Project Summary Bacteria and Archaea face a nearly constant onslaught of diverse stressors, including nutrient limitations, temperature changes, antibiotics, phage, host immune systems, and more. Whether they can properly detect and respond to such stressors largely determines their survival in a world of fierce competition. Microbes have evolved finely tuned and sophisticated regulatory mechanisms for responding to stress by controlling genome duplication and repair, gene expression, proteostasis, RNA processing, and both central and secondary metabolism - collectively, these responses enable survival in a range of harsh conditions. Thus, delineating how microbes respond to stress will elucidate the fundamental principles governing key cellular processes that are conserved from bacteria to humans where they prevent genetic disease and cancer. Understanding how microbes respond to stress impacts areas such as biotechnology, ecology, environmental biology, geochemical cycles, as well as the symbiosis and pathogenesis relationships that microbes establish with their eukaryotic hosts. The latest advances in this field will be the subject of the 2022 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Microbial Stress Response to be held July 17-22nd at Mount Holyoke College. This meeting will bring together a demographically diverse group of 200 international scientists seeking to understand how microbes sense and respond to challenging and ever-changing environments. Attendees are encouraged to present posters of their most exciting research. Emphasis will be placed on new approaches to understanding interactions between microbes and the environment, particularly modern imaging, genetic, metagenomic, and computational strategies for the analysis of bacterial physiology and community structures under conditions of stress and competition. A key feature of this conference is its welcoming and highly interactive environment that brings together investigators at all levels. Invited speakers include established and highly recognized scientists as well as junior investigators. Approximately 50% of invited speakers are women and 40% of oral presentations will be selected from the submitted abstracts with an emphasis on those by new investigators, postdoctoral scientists, and graduate students. Postdoctoral and graduate student participation is further encouraged by the accompanying Gordon Research Seminar (GRS), organized by students, trainees, and early stage investigators for their peers. We anticipate the 2020 Microbial Stress Response GRC will continue the success of its predecessors with cutting edge discoveries unveiled for the first time to a multidisciplinary and critical audience.