A NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Portugal in 1968 on cellular biology directed our attention to the important role that biological membranes played in the fundamental life processes, e.g. the transportation of cellular nutrients into cells and into subcellular par ticles coupled with energy use/or generation. A consi deration of biomembranes and their structure led us to organize a self-supporting course in 1972 under the gen eral sponsorship of the American Oil Chemists' Society on "Fundamentals of Lipid Chemistry." This course con cluded with important papers on lipoproteins, membrane structure and membrane models. The papers presented at the short course were published under the same title. With the background of the lipid course, a third program was developed entitled "Biomembranes - Lipids, Proteins and Receptors" and held as a NATO Advanced Study Insti tute in 1974. This ASI explored the structure of bio membranes and the relationship of non-lipid components to membrane function. This ASI was also published to provide the conference proceedings to interested scien tists who could not attend.

Inhalt
The Use of Transmission Electron Microscopy of Ultrathin Sections for the Characterization of the Ultrastructure of Normal and Damaged Bacterial Membranes.- Techniques for the Localization of Phospholipids in Biological Membranes.- Phospholipid Organization in the Membranes of Normal and Abnormal Erythrocytes.- Studies on the Distribution of Glycosphingolipids in Biomembranes.- Fluidity of Membranes An MNR Approach.- Membrane Fluidity.- Hydrophobic Labelling and Cross-Linking of Membrane Proteins.- Membrane-Bound Phospholipases: Properties and Functions.- Hydrophobic Ions, Carriers and Pore Formers in Lipid Bilayers as Studied by Fast Kinetic Methods.- Photoreceptor Membrane: Models for Excitable Membranes?.- Mitochondrial ATPase.- The Cytochrome Chain of Mitochondria: Electron Transfer Reactions and Transmembrane Translocation.- Calcium Transport in Synaptosomes and Synaptic Plasma Membrane Vesicles.- Identification of Calcium Channels with Radiolabelled Calcium Blockers.- Reconstitution of Nerve Membrane Sodium Channels.- Evolution of Proteins: From Gene Determinism to Cellular Integration.- Contributors.