Preface
 
Rolf Neth    Hämatol. Bulttransf. Vol 14
Nearly every month there are workshops, conferences or congresses devoted to the problems of human leukemia, for our knowledge is quite limited. In large measure, these conferences have been concerned with special aspects of leukemia. In this workshop we have brought together scientists from different research areas in human leukemia. Therefore the title "Modern Trends in Human Leukemia" does not only apply to the discussion of the importance of molecular biology, but also includes the 100 year old history of the leukemic cell as the basis of biological and immunological aspects in human leukemia. Modern trends in human leukemia need to be discussed based on the past, present and possible future information gathered from all different, but related topics. The idea to bring together highly qualified biochemists, medical doctors, and virologists to learn, like students, about each other's fields has been very unusual. But to understand human leukemia, the virologists and biochemists have to learn more about the properties of the human blood cell, and the medical doctors have to learn where and how leukemic misinformation can influence the normal regulation of the molecular control mechanism in a blood cell. To start such a workshop, therefore, was to start an experiment. In this experiment, the hope was that these scientists would learn about each other's research fields and also teach others about their own specialized fields as well. The final aim was that those in the workshop would discuss the whole problem of human leukemia, and cooperative research programs among the different specialized groups would be stimulated. We tried the experiment for three long days and nights in a 350 year old farmhouse. I would like to thank all people who made this possible. Our hope is now that you can be stimulated and encouraged to try similar experiments.



Round table discussion "Flett" and "Grotdeel" of "De Emhoff"