This book is the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Studies Institute organized jointly by LNETI, the National Laboratories of the Ministry of Industry of the Portuguese Government and The Institute for Biotechnological Studies in the UK. The ASI was held in 1985 on the beautiful peninsula of Troia, once the site of a flourishing Roman salt industry. The course was the first in the NATO "Double Jump Programme" specifically aimed to promote industrial and academic participation and cooperation. As such, contributions across the whole field of biotechnology were planned and the present volume represents perspectives from specialists in different areas. Biotechnology has been defined in a recent OECD publication as "the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services" and the contents of this book, which often describe research from interdisciplinary groups, reflect this title. The value of the ASI was further enhanced by many first class poster contributions from the participants.
