L. Packer - Böcker

As the First International Conference on Water and Ions in Biological Systems (Bucharest, June 25-27, 1980) was appreciated as a success, a second one was organized in the fall of the year 1982 under the sponsorship of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, the Romanian Biophysical Society (Union of Societies for Medical Sciences in the Socialist Republic of Romania) and in co­ operation with the International Union for Pure and Applied Bio­ physics (IUPAB). The responsibility for the scientific program and organization of the Second Conference on Water fell on an International Scientific Committee which included Prof. J. Tigyi (Pees), President of the UNESCO Expert Committee on Biophysics, Prof. K. Wuthrich, Secretary General of IUPAB and Prof. H. Eisenberg, (member of the IUPAB Council) under the guidance of an Executive Board whose members were Prof. J. Jaz (representative of UNESCO), Prof. B. Pullman (Vice­ President of IUPAB) and Prof. V. Vasilescu (President of the Romanian Biophysical Society). The Meeting was attended by more than 250 specialists including 150 Romanian participants and others from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, England, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, USSR, USA, Venezuela, Yugoslavia. The proceedings of the Conference took place in the Medical Faculty of Bucharest. The theoretical and practical importance of the Meeting was pointed out by the speakers, among whom were Prof.

As the First International Conference on Water and Ions in Biological Systems (Bucharest, June 25-27, 1980) was appreciated as a success, a second one was organized in the fall of the year 1982 under the sponsorship of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, the Romanian Biophysical Society (Union of Societies for Medical Sciences in the Socialist Republic of Romania) and in co­ operation with the International Union for Pure and Applied Bio­ physics (IUPAB). The responsibility for the scientific program and organization of the Second Conference on Water fell on an International Scientific Committee which included Prof. J. Tigyi (Pees), President of the UNESCO Expert Committee on Biophysics, Prof. K. Wuthrich, Secretary General of IUPAB and Prof. H. Eisenberg, (member of the IUPAB Council) under the guidance of an Executive Board whose members were Prof. J. Jaz (representative of UNESCO), Prof. B. Pullman (Vice­ President of IUPAB) and Prof. V. Vasilescu (President of the Romanian Biophysical Society). The Meeting was attended by more than 250 specialists including 150 Romanian participants and others from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, England, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, USSR, USA, Venezuela, Yugoslavia. The proceedings of the Conference took place in the Medical Faculty of Bucharest. The theoretical and practical importance of the Meeting was pointed out by the speakers, among whom were Prof.

Oxidative stress and aging Over the past several years there has been an extraordinarily rapid growth in our knowledge of free radical chemistry and its possible involvement in both normal essential biology and age­ related disease and dysfunction. Much of this growth in the traditionally separate sciences of chemistry and molecular gerontology occurred independently, with little interaction or communi­ cation between the scientists working in these two fields. In view of the growing maturity of the two fields and the potential importance of advancing our knowledge in the area of oxidative stress and aging, we perceived a critical need to organize an international conference the "First Inter­ national Conference on Oxidative Stress and Aging" in Hawaii in 1994 to bring together the world's leading scientists in the fields of reactive oxygen species and molecular gerontology. The objective of this conference was to provide a unique opportunity for scholars working in these two related and rapidly growing fields to participate in the exchange, integration, and synthesis of new concepts and ideas, to engage in constructive criticism and to initiate new collaborative research projects. The conference focused on the molecular and cellular aspects of aging as related to oxidative stress. It was one of the largest and most comprehensive international conferences held in molecular gerontology. At this conference a call was made for submission of papers to be used in the publication of a book covering the major contributions of the meeting.