Enzyme Engineering: Future Directions

The Soviet Union has had an active research and development program in the study and applica­ tion of soluble and immobilized enzymes since about 1970. Therefore, it was a natural conse­ quence that an international conference should be held in the Soviet Union to focus on some of the developments that may lead to new and exciting practical applications of enzymatic catalysts in a variety of areas, especially carbohydrate con­ versions, medicine, energy transduction, and photochemistry. The International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study, with its goal of focusing international scientific and technological exper­ tise on world problems, also has been very active in the area of enzyme engineering, with a major effort during 1972-1977 in several of the sub­ areas covered in this volume. The conference was held June 20-24, 1978 in the city of Tbilisi in the Georgian SSR of the USSR, under the title "The Future of Enzyme En­ gineering Development." The participants expressed a high sense of gratitude to the State Committee for Science and Technology and especially to the Georgian Academy of Sciences for their hospitality. The services of the Soviet linguists in providing simultaneous translation between Russian and English, and the brass band that played for the departing participants at the Tbilisi airport helped to make both the scientific and cultural parts of the conference memorable.