In keeping with the traditions of deve1opmenta1 bio1ogy and geronto1ogy, there was a long incubation period before fu11 expres- sion of the plans for an International Conference on the Werner Syndrome and the pub1ication of the present monograph based upon the proceedings of that conference. The initial concept emerged at the Xlth International Congress. of Geronto1ogy, which took p1ace in Tokyo in 1978. Drs. G.M. Martin, Y. Fujiwara and Y. Mitsui met on that occasion to discuss ways of acce1erating the pace of research on this important disorder, inc1uding banking and sharing of ce11 cu1tures, establishment of patient registries, and p1anning of joint conferences and pub1ications. In November 1979, under the auspices of the Geronto1ogica1 Society of America and a conference grant from the National Institute on Aging of the U.S. National Institutes of Hea1th, a group of Japanese investigators (Drs. Fujiwara, Mitsui, M. Goto, T. Ishii, K. Oota and *T. Matsumura) met with Drs. Martin, D. Sa1k and W. Ted Brown to deve10p plans to implement the goals discussed at the initial Tokyo meeting. A workshop focused on the needs of ce11 banking and 1ed to an accumu1ation of research materials both in Japan (main1y under the leadership of T. Matsumura) and in the U.S.A. (with the cooperation of Dr. Arthur Greene of the Institute of Medica1 Research).