This special issue of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry our their mentor. The ex-students and trainees came from contains original research articles and review papers which all over Canada, the United States, Japan, Slovakia, Ger­ were invitedfrom the participants ofa recent meeting organ­ many, the Czech Republic, Estoniaand the Netherlands. The izedto honourthe 60th birthdayofNaranjan S. Dhalla, Ph.D., meeting wasjudged to be an overwhelming success in terms M.D. (Hon.). The meeting, organized by Drs. Morris Karma­ ofthe scientific content as well as collaborative interactions zyn (London), Grant Pierce (Winnipeg) and Balwant Tuana initiated. (Ottawa), was held at the Best Western Lakeside Inn in We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Kenora, Ontario, Canada from August 23-25th, 1996. The Pfizer, MerckFrosst, Astra, Ciba-Geigy, the Heart and Stroke meeting was entitled 'The Cellular Basis of Cardiovascular Foundation of Manitoba, the Medical Research Council of Function in Health and Disease'. There were over40 invited Canada, St. Boniface Research Foundation, the NRC Insti­ speakers from 15 different countries present at the meet­ tute for Biodiagnostics, the ManitobaHealth Research Coun­ ing and it was attended by over 280 people. Keynote lectures cil and various sources within the University of Manitoba.