Topics include studies of the brain, heart, liver, lungs, muscle, tissue in vitro, advances in instrumentation, development of theory, and related subjects. Three major advances are revealed: newly developed large arrays of magnetic sensors which can sample simultaneously a field pattern from many

This series provides a forum for state-of-the-art review essays covering the interdisciplinary field of biomagnetism. It includes coverage of such topics as the use of magnetometry to study electrophysical phenomena and the interaction of magnetic fields with biological systems.

40th anniversary of "medical uses of SQUID" th It is my great pleasure and honor to invite you to the 17 International Conference on Biomagnetism – Biomag2010 held in Dubrovnik, Croatia from Sunday, March 28 through Thursday, April 1, 2010. The interdisciplinary field of biomagnetism includes dynamic and evolving SQUID-based technologies offering advanced real-time methods for noninvasive assessments of magnetic signals from the brain, heart and other organs as well as a range of modeling, mathematical and computational methods for functional source localization approaches. Excellent spatial resolution and unique, millisecond, temporal resolution of biomagnetic techniques allow insights into cortical neurodynamics and neurobiological basis of the human brain as well as assessment of heart and other organs functions in health and disease. Biomag2010 will be a great opportunity for an exchange of ideas and presentation of the latest developments in instrumentation, modeling approaches, basic and clinical biomedical studies. We are particularly proud to announce the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first SQUID-based MCG measurements published on April 1, 1970. Since then ''medical uses of SQUID'' were dynamic and growing, including the most recent developments, in combination with a low field MRI, toward a ''direct neuronal imaging''. Dubrovnik, the host city of the Biomag2010, a jewel on the Adriatic, will be a superb and stimulating setting for both scientific and social aspects of this meeting. I am looking forward to hosting you in Dubrovnik, Croatia in spring of 2010.

Biomagnetism is the study of magnetic fields that originate in biological systems. This is a relatively new discipline that has attracted considerable interest throughout the scientific commu- ty. The study of biomagnetic fields requires the use of techniques and concepts drawn from widely disparate scientific disciplines. To make these techniques and concepts available to a wide spectrum of the scientific community, a NATO Advanced study Institute on B- magnetism was held near Frascati at Grottaferrata, Italy, in S- tember 1982. This volume is based on the lectures delivered by scholars representing many different scientific areas, ranging from solid state physics to psychology. It attempts to preserve the - herent development of concepts drawn from physiology, psychology, biology, physics, medicine, occupational health and geology that was evident during the Institute. The reader will quickly become aware that the progress in biomagnetism over the past decade was due principally to the efforts of interdisciplinary teams of sci- tists. One of the purposes of this volume is to make all of the basic principles and findings of biomagnetism available in one place, so that scientists who have already embarked on the study of biomagnetism or who plan to do so in the near future will have them available for study and reference. Each section of this volume was written by a recognized expert who lectured at the Institute on the topics he describes here.