Environmental Monitoring and Biodiagnostics of Hazardous Contaminants

The fourth International Symposium of the International Society for Environmental Biotechnology was held at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 20-25, 1998. This meeting included technical presentations of state-of-the-art research which were integrated with tutorials and workshops by practising technologists in the broad field of environmental biotechnology. This meeting was designed to be, in every respect, truly global. Over 100 abstracts from around the world were accepted. For example, presentations were heard from technical workers in Southeast Asia, Iran, China, many countries in Europe, India, and the United States. By having these selected presenters, as well as identified experienced tutors with focused workshops, all participants benefited from this interactive symposium. A number of social events further promoted informal exchange of ideas, discussions of technical problems, and exploration of new applications. The symposium, with an attendance of several hundred people, was considered a major success. Workers with experience in one area of environmental biotechnology learned from the wealth of established backgrounds of those in other areas.To formally disseminate conference results, it was pre-arranged that all technical presentations were reviewed for formal publication. Environmental biotechnology is an emerging field of scientific and technological investigations that is truly global. People around the world are now joined together by a common technical bond. Furthermore, popular recognition is high for the environmental problems being faced and solved by biotechnology methods. With a feeling of "winning", but recognizing there is much work to be done, workers with in-depth experience in solving one problem in environmental biotechnology learned from the background of other workers how they, too, are addressing and solving environmental problems. In every respect, support for this highly focused global symposium was merited. As with all meetings of the International Society for Environmental Biotechnology, papers were invited especially for the following sessions: metals - mine drainage, removal, toxicity; waste treatment/monitoring; integrated systems; bioremediation - in situ/reactors/basic studies; water quality; biodegradation; local/national/international issues.