Advances in Chitin and Chitosan

Interest in chitin and chitosan continues to grow globally fueled in large measure by a surging interest in the newly explored biotechnological and enzyme engineering aspects of these biorenewable resources. Testimony to that interest is the continuation in the face of difficult economic times of the series of International Conferences on Chitin and Chitosan which has resulted in this volume. Further evidence comes from the expansion in national diversity among those who were in attendance. This enhanced interest also led to the formation of the American Chitoscience Society, the sponsoring organization for the conference. The 5th International Conference on Chitin and Chitosan was held October 17-20, 1991 in Princeton, NJ, U.S.A. It follows in the proud sequence which began with the 1st Conference in Cambridge, MA, U.S.A. in 1977, continued in Sapporo, Japan in 1982, then in Ancona, Italy in 1985 and once again in Trondheim, Norway in 1988. In spite of a recessionary world economy, the response to the 5th Conference was gratifying with presentations made over 4 days in 10 oral and 2 poster sessions. This volume contains 76 of those papers.