Bioinorganic chemistry crosses many boundaries and the conference covers research from molecular biology to analytical chemistry to the toxic effects of metals to synthetic chemistry of porphyrins, to spectroscopic methods involving an extremely wide range of tools and finally, to theoretical calculations. These topics concern the metabolism of essential and toxic metals, the synthetic mimics and models of metals in biological molecules, synthetic approaches to duplicate biological function, the mechanistic details of metal function in biology, effects and therapeutic response to the toxicity of metals, metals as therapeutic agents. These research areas touch on all aspects of the well-being of human life, from nutrition to the environment to medical intervention. How metals are transported into and out of organisms and how metals are incorporated into biologically important compounds to activate these compounds for function are key focuses of bioinorganic research.