The 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz, and John E. Sulston for their seminal discoveries concerning "genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death." This clearly marked the prime importance of understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling cell death. The 1 st International Symposium on Programmed Cell Death was held in the Shanghai Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on September 8-12, 1996. A number of key issues in apoptosis were discussed at the meeting, and progress in major areas of apopto sis research was summarized by expert participants at the meeting and published by Plenum Publishing Corporation as a book entitled Programmed Cell Death. In the last six years, we have witnessed a real explosion in our knowledge on how cells undergo apoptosis, thereby participating in various developmental and pathophysiological processes. At this ever exciting time, we organized the 2nd International Symposium on Programmed Cell Death.

Contains papers from a July 1998 conference held at the Queens College Campus of the City University of New York. Papers are arranged in sections on mechanisms and general considerations, programmed (developmental) cell death, and cell death and pathological and clinical situations. Specific topics

One of the major goals of researchers in the field of apoptosis is to identify targets for novel therapies in cancer, AIDS, and Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of the various components of the apoptotic pathways is the first step to reaching this goal. The 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Sydney Brenner (United Kingdom), H. Robert Horvitz (US) and John E. Sulston (UK) "for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death." Cell death is a fundamental aspect of embryonic development, normal cellular turnover and maintenance of homeostasis (maintaining a stable, constant environment) on the one hand, and aging and disease on the other. This volume addresses the significant advances with the techniques that are being used to analyze cell death. This volume provides the necessary, trusted methods to carry out this research on these latest therapeutic techniques. Once researchers understand the molecular mechanisms of the apoptotic pathways, they can begin to develop new therapies Presents key methods on studying tumors and how these cancer cells evade cell death Eliminates searching through many different sources to avoid pitfalls so the same mistakes are not made over and over

This volume contains papers that were presented and discussed at The 1996 Interna tional Symposium on Programmed Cell Death, which was held in the Shanghai Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on September 8-12, 1996. Apoptosis has attracted great attention in the past several years. This is reflected in part by the exponential increase in the number of papers published on the subject. While several major scientific conferences have been held in recent years, this meeting repre sents the first major international scientific meeting on programmed cell death held in Asia, where fast economic growth promises a bright future for both basic and applied re search in biomedical sciences. We organized the meeting with the belief that such a gath ering would foster a closer interaction between scientists from the West and those in Asia. Research on programmed cell death has expanded so extensively that no one meet ing can cover all the important subjects related to apoptosis. The Shanghai meeting fo cused on several key areas ranging from well-established ones, such as cell death in the immune system, to emerging ones, such as the role ofECM in regUlating cell fate. Specifi cally, the subjects presented and discussed included programmed cell death during devel opment, the regulation and biochemical mechanisms of lymphocyte apoptosis, the involvement of extracellular matrix and its remodeling in programmed cell death, genes that cause or prevent cell death, and the application of apoptosis toward cancer therapy.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a significant source of death and permanent disability, contributing to nearly one-third of all injury related deaths in the United States and exacting a profound personal and economic toll. Despite the increased resources that have recently been brought to bear to improve our understanding of TBI, the developme