Cellular engineering working groupThe cellular engineering working group was established following the initiative taken by the IFMBE Administrative Council in 1989. Since its formation the working group has stimulated developments in cellular engineering, raising its profile through publications, symposia, workshops and conferences. In the early days of the working group, a number of mini-symposia, workshops and specialist presentations was organised within conferences, including a symposium in Nice (February 1991), the World Congress (Kyoto, 1991), the IFMBE Mediterranean Conference in Capri (July 1992) and the IEEE/EMBS – IFMBE Conference in Paris (October 1992). In September 1993 the 1st International Conference on Cellular Engineering was held under the auspices of the IFMBE in Stoke-on-Trent, where some one hundred experts assembled to present and listen to papers on the topics of: neural; bioreactor; vascular; materials; bone and tendon; tissue engineering; advanced microscopy techniques; sensors; modelling; cell adhesion; and interactions of electrical, magnetic and ultrasonic fields on cell behaviour. It was particularly exciting to witness the interchange and collaboration between individuals from the many disciplines represented at the Conference. Following the success of this meeting, the 2nd International Conference was organised in La Jolla, California, USA, in August 1995. This conference, like its predecessor, attracted cell biologists, physicists, biochemists and engineers to attend sessions on: molecular manipulation of cell function; dynamics and mechanics of cells and tissues; cell-based therapies; cell/biomaterials interactions; physical and quantitative cell biology; and tissue engineering. This conference was used as the opportunity to launch the new journal, Cellular Engineering. Other recent activities of the group have included the organisation of cellular engineering tracks within the 10th Nordic-Baltic Conference (Tampere, Finland, June 1996) and the IEEE/EMBS - IFMBE Conference (Amsterdam, November 1996), and a symposium on cellular engineering within the Society of Experimental Biology Conference (Canterbury, Kent, UK, April 1997). Looking to the future, there is to be a track on cellular and tissue engineering at the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, to be held in Nice during September 1997; this will be followed by the 3rd International Conference on Cellular Engineering, to be held in San Remo. Topic areas confirmed to date include: cell mechanics; muscle cell engineering; molecular sub-cellular phenomena; controlling cell response; red cell engineering; tissue equivalents; and neuro-electronic interface. In December 1997 there is to be a cellular engineering track in the 9th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering, to be held in Singapore. It has been agreed by the working group that the 4th International Conference on Cellular Engineering will take place in Japan in 1999. The field of Cellular Engineering continues to expand and to include a growing number of experts world wide working within a wide range of specialities. This is reflected in the present membership of the working group, which consists of Professor Peter Rolfe (UK) as chairman, with three representatives from the USA, four from west Europe, one from east Europe and one from Japan. There are now plans to enlarge the group by involving experts from sub-specialist areas of expertise. PETER ROLFE | ||