Recent Advances in Sterol Research Presented at the 99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo in Seattle Washington, May 2008

Since 1970, AOCS has been a regular host to the sterol symposia. Table 1 summarizes the history of the AOCS Sterol Symposium Series. The pioneers who established the AOCS Sterol Symposium during its first decade include Dr. Henry W. Kircher (University of Arizona, an expert on natural product chemistry and insect-sterol ecology), Dr. James W. Hendrix (University of Kentucky, an expert on fungal sterols), Dr. John L. Laseter (University of New Orleans, an expert on the analysis of sterols by gas chromatography), Dr. William R. Nes (Drexel University, a bioorganic chemist and an expert on the structure, function and evolution of sterols, and whose research accomplishments were commemorated in Steroids 53:261–648, 1989), and Dr. Erich Heftmann (Western Regional Research Center, USDA, ARS, a biochemist and an expert on the chromatography and biosynthesis of plant sterols, and whose research accomplishments were commemorated in J Chromatogr A 452, 1–634, 1988). Throughout the years the sterol symposia have focused on current research in the areas of sterol structure, biosynthesis, chemistry, regulation, and function. The 2008 Sterol Symposium, ‘‘Recent Advances in Sterol Research,’’ was held at the AOCS Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington. This year the symposium held special significance, for it hosted the presentation of the fourth G. J. Schroepfer Jr. Award for sterol research. The Award was established to honor the memory of Dr. George J. Schroepfer Jr., a prominent sterol biochemist and chemist who made major and lasting contributions to the sterol field. Much of his research dealt with the biosynthesis of cholesterol and its regulation. In addition, he maintained a strong organic synthesis program to support his biochemical studies. A biography describing many of Dr. Schroepfer’s contributions can be found in this journal (Wilson, W. K. Lipids 35, 242, 2000). Dr. Schroepfer was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the sterol symposium in Orlando, Florida, in 1999, but unfortunately, he passed away on 11 December 1998. The three previous recipients of the Schroepfer Award were Professor Geoffrey Gibbons (2002), Professor Jan Sjovall (2004) and Professor Ingemar Bjorkhem (2006). The fourth recipient of the G. J. Schroepfer Jr. Award for sterol research was Professor Michel Rohmer from the Institute of Chemistry at the University Louis Pasteur/ CNRS in Strasbourg, France. Professor Rohmer, a member of the French Academy of Sciences, has made major contributions to the sterol field and we were pleased when we learned that he had been chosen to receive this R. A. Moreau (&) Eastern Regional Research Center, USDA, ARS, Wyndmoor, PA 19038, USA e-mail: robert.moreau@ars.usda.gov