to Massada was conducted in the rain. The unexpected rains also caused flash floods in the area, and Ein Bokek was completely cut-off on Thursday night. The archeologist scheduled to speak after dinner, and the belly dancer scheduled to appear afterwards, (~ould not arrive, resulting in the only serious deviation from the original plan. The scientific program consisted of invited talks and contributed posters. The emphasis in selection of invited speakers and topics was on the methods rather than specific molecular systems, and an attempt was made to allow ample time for discussion after each lecture. The same philosophy guided us in editing this book, and authors were requested to write manuscripts longer than usual for standard conference proceedings.