Symposium on Biophysics and Physiology of Biological Transport

The study of cell membranes began to attract increasing interest before the turn of the present century with the observations ofO verton. Since that time many investigators have become interested in the broad problern of structure and function of the membrane and today we find ourselves at a stage in which several branches of research, particularly physical chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, physiology and pharmacology have come together, leading to the possibility of obtaining a better perspective of the overall problems. The purpose of this Symposium was to assemble in an orderly sequence representations of the knowledge of membranes achieved to date in the areas of the various disciplines. It was thought that tobring together many points of view on a problern should allow the conferees to see better what had been accomplished, what has been overlooked and what needs further development. lt is tobe hoped that efforts of this type have and will fulfill the desired purpose. This volume contains the majority of the papers contributed by the participants in the Symposium. In addition, it seemed logical to place at the beginning of each chapter at least one general survey of the subject which would help those who were less acquainted with the problern to derive the most benefit from their reading.