The Unity and Diversity of Membrane Function

Recent advances in cellular and molecular physiology have greatly expanded current knowledge of the structure and regulation of proteins, ion pumps, ion exchangers and ion channels that mediate diverse transport functions. This publication focuses on these exciting advances which indicate that several recently cloned and expressed membrane transport proteins may be both centrally involved in disease processes and serve as targets for a variety of pharmacotherapies. The contributions are papers that were presented by leading experts at the International Conference on Biological Membranes which was marked by a particularly broad coverage of membrane phenomena.