Every two years, the world's leading specialists meet to exchange information on the most recent advances in understanding metals and the part they play in treating some diseases, especially cancer. Most of the elements in our environment are metals. Some are essential for life, such as copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, nickel and zinc; others are toxic, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. This book aims to help advance our knowledge of the role of metal ions in a number of fields in biology and medicine. It reproduces the papers given at the International Symposium on Metal Ions in Biology and Medicine organised in Munich in May 1998.