This proceedings volume presents a diverse collection of high-quality, state-of-the-art research and survey articles written by top experts in low-dimensional topology and its applications. 

The focal topics include the wide range of historical and contemporary invariants of knots and links and related topics such as three- and four-dimensional manifolds, braids, virtual knot theory, quantum invariants, braids, skein modules and knot algebras, link homology, quandles and their homology; hyperbolic knots and geometric structures of three-dimensional manifolds; the mechanism of topological surgery in physical processes, knots in Nature in the sense of physical knots with applications to polymers, DNA enzyme mechanisms, and protein structure and function. 

The contents is based on contributions presented at the International Conference on Knots, Low-Dimensional Topology and Applications – Knots in Hellas 2016, which was held at the International Olympic Academy in Greece in July 2016. The goal of the international conference was to promote the exchange of methods and ideas across disciplines and generations, from graduate students to senior researchers, and to explore fundamental research problems in the broad fields of knot theory and low-dimensional topology. 

This book will benefit all researchers who wish to take their research in new directions, to learn about new tools and methods, and to discover relevant and recent literature for future study.

This text is based on lectures delivered by the first author on various, often nonstandard, parts of knot theory and related subjects. By exploring contemporary topics in knot theory including those that have become mainstream, such as skein modules, Khovanov homology and Gram determinants motivated by knots, this book offers an innovative extension to the existing literature. Each lecture begins with a historical overview of a topic and gives motivation for the development of that subject. Understanding of most of the material in the book requires only a basic knowledge of topology and abstract algebra. The intended audience is beginning and advanced graduate students, advanced undergraduate students, and researchers interested in knot theory and its relations with other disciplines within mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry.

Inclusion of many exercises, open problems, and conjectures enables the reader to enhance their understanding of the subject. The use of this text for the classroom is versatile and depends on the course level and choices made by the instructor. Suggestions for variations in course coverage are included in the Preface. The lecture style and array of topical coverage are hoped to inspire independent research and applications of the methods described in the book to other disciplines of science. An introduction to the topology of 3-dimensional manifolds is included in Appendices A and B. Lastly, Appendix C includes a Table of Knots.

This proceedings volume presents a diverse collection of high-quality, state-of-the-art research and survey articles written by top experts in low-dimensional topology and its applications. 

The focal topics include the wide range of historical and contemporary invariants of knots and links and related topics such as three- and four-dimensional manifolds, braids, virtual knot theory, quantum invariants, braids, skein modules and knot algebras, link homology, quandles and their homology; hyperbolic knots and geometric structures of three-dimensional manifolds; the mechanism of topological surgery in physical processes, knots in Nature in the sense of physical knots with applications to polymers, DNA enzyme mechanisms, and protein structure and function. 

The contents is based on contributions presented at the International Conference on Knots, Low-Dimensional Topology and Applications – Knots in Hellas 2016, which was held at the International Olympic Academy in Greece in July 2016. The goal of the international conference was to promote the exchange of methods and ideas across disciplines and generations, from graduate students to senior researchers, and to explore fundamental research problems in the broad fields of knot theory and low-dimensional topology. 

This book will benefit all researchers who wish to take their research in new directions, to learn about new tools and methods, and to discover relevant and recent literature for future study.

This text is based on lectures delivered by the first author on various, often nonstandard, parts of knot theory and related subjects. By exploring contemporary topics in knot theory including those that have become mainstream, such as skein modules, Khovanov homology and Gram determinants motivated by knots, this book offers an innovative extension to the existing literature. Each lecture begins with a historical overview of a topic and gives motivation for the development of that subject. Understanding of most of the material in the book requires only a basic knowledge of topology and abstract algebra. The intended audience is beginning and advanced graduate students, advanced undergraduate students, and researchers interested in knot theory and its relations with other disciplines within mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry.

Inclusion of many exercises, open problems, and conjectures enables the reader to enhance their understanding of the subject. The use of this text for the classroom is versatile and depends on the course level and choices made by the instructor. Suggestions for variations in course coverage are included in the Preface. The lecture style and array of topical coverage are hoped to inspire independent research and applications of the methods described in the book to other disciplines of science. An introduction to the topology of 3-dimensional manifolds is included in Appendices A and B. Lastly, Appendix C includes a Table of Knots.