W. TH. DAEMS This volume contains the papers presented at a Boerhaave Course for Post graduate Education on The cell-biological aspects of disease: the plasma membrane and lysosomes. One of the purposes of this introduction is to explain the reasons for this choice of subject. The first question which might be asked - why a postgraduate course on the cell biological aspects of disease was considered neccessary - is not difficult to answer: the impact of the basic sciences on medicine is im measurably strong, and among these sciences cell biology has contributed immensely to the advances made...