This book is a result of the First Conference on Lipoxygenases, held at Malta, May 17th-2l st, 1997. The goal was very ambitious: having lipoxygenases as a focus for distant and diverse experimental approaches, we brought together scientists to discuss and build a consensus on the biological role of lipoxygenases. Although still fuzzy in many details, the Malta conference has shown that a unifying view on lipoxygenases is finally taking shape, and that the experimental evidence of links and conjugations among events OCCUf ing from cell membranes to intracellular compartments and the nucleus is becoming in creasingly convincing. The editors are deeply grateful to Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Free Univer sity Berlin, NOAA Sea Grant College Program (U. S. A. ), Schering, Berlin (F. R. G. ), and Cayman Chemicals, Ann Arbor, Michigan (U. S. A. ), for their generous financial support, which was crucial in making the conference a scientific success. The conference received financial support from a number of additional sponsors, and we express our gratitude to Abbott Labs (U. S. A. ), Air Malta (Malta), Ass. Int. Cancer Res. (U. K. ), Biometra (F. R. G. ), Bayer AG (F. R. G. ), IBL Co. (F. R. G. ), Merck Frosst (Canada), Perkin Elmer (F. R. G. ), Scotia Pharmaceuticals (Canada), Searle (U. S. A. ), SPI Chemicals (France), and TOPCRO (Austria).