This book represents the proceedings of a Satellite Symposium of the
XIth International Congress of Biochemistry on "Control of Membrane
Fluidity" which was held on July 7, 1979 at the Charles H. Best
Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. The meeting was
organized by M. Kates and A. Kuksis and was supported by the
International Congress of Biochemistry. The purpose of the meeting was
to review recent progress in many different areas of investigation
bearing on the role of lipids in the structural and functional property
of the cell membrane commonly referred to as fluidity. The aim was to
emphasize the factors controlling membrane fluidity as studied in
appropriate in vitro and in vivo experiments. The Symposium included
invited review papers and short papers offered by discussants. In assem-
bling the book no distinction has been made between the two types of
presentations, nor has any significance been attached to the
chronological order of their presentation in the Symposium. As a result
it was possible to provide a much more coherent and continuous
presentation than that available at the meeting.