Affinity 2007.

5 The 17th biennial meeting of the International Society for Molecular Recognition (ISMR) took place on 8–12 July 2007 in New York City and was attended by over 100 scientists from academia, industry, and government from 15 countries of five continents. New York University hosted the meeting in Greenwich Village, which is renowned as a hub for new ideas, progressive movements, and higher education. The idea to host Affinity 2007 in New York City was suggested by the journal’s founding editor, Irwin Chaiken, in Cambridge, England at Affinity 2003. The Affinity 2007/NYC proposal that followed was approved shortly thereafter and the stage was set, thanks to Affinity 2005 organizer, Lars Hagel, in Uppsala, Sweden. Building on the Affinity 2005 model and recommendations from the ISMR Council, International Scientific Advisory Board, and Local Organizing Committee, a consensus-based working plan was proposed in Summer/Fall 2006. The program that followed was one steeped in the traditions of ‘‘Affinity past’’ with a particular focus on ‘‘Affinity future.’’ Toward this end, the final program included an inaugural lecture/ reception, scientific sessions featuring several prominent keynote speakers, contributed oral and poster presentations, exhibits, the Pierce Affinity Award, the Roche Younger Investigators Award, a Gala dinner, and other ‘‘social interactions.’’ The session topics, talks, and chairs for Affinity 2007 were carefully selected to create a balance between basic and applied research in Affinity technology and science. Mathias Uhlén’s welcoming lecture on the Human Protein Atlas was the perfect example set in the Rosenthal Pavilion overlooking Washington Square Park in the ‘‘original corner of cool.’’ The first session of Affinity 2007 chaired by Mathias, was aptly named, ‘‘Affinity: Past, Present and Future.’’ Lars Hagel chaired the second session entitled, ‘‘Advances in Affinity Technologies.’’ The third session, ‘‘New Developments in Chromatography’’ was chaired by Juan Asenjo. Richard Willson was chair to the fourth session on ‘‘Nano/Bio/Materials.’’ The fifth session, ‘‘Insights into Intraand Intermolecular Interactions,’’ was chaired by M.A. ‘‘Viji’’ Vijayalakshmi. Irwin Chaiken presided over the sixth session entitled, ‘‘Protein Interactions In and On Cells.’’ The seventh session, ‘‘Viruses and Vaccines,’’ was chaired by Daniel Malamud, and the final session on ‘‘Drug Discovery and Diagnostics’’ was chaired by Hitesh Chokshi. Among the highlights from these sessions were plenary lectures from three National Academy of Science members: Meir Wilchek, who kicked off the opening session with his talk entitled, ‘‘My Life with Affinity: Essentials of Biorecognition and Its Application,’’ Wayne Hendrickson, who lectured on ‘‘Ligand Recognition and Plasticity in HIV Envelope Glycoprotein gp120,’’ and Ron Breslow, who closed the last session with a lecture