Organized by Alessandra Carbone ( IHeS, Bures-sur-Yvette, France ) Organized by Misha Gromov ( IHeS, Bures-sur-Yvette, France ) Organized by Fran ois K(r)p s ( CNRS-Genopole-, evry, France ) Organized by Eric Westhof ( Universit(r) Louis-Pasteur, Strasbourg, France ). This proceedings volume explores the pathways and mechanisms by which constituent residues interact and fold to yield native biological macromolecules (catalytic RNA and functional proteins), how ribosomes and other macromolecular complexes self-assemble, and relevant energetics considerations. At the week-long interactive conference, some 20 leading researchers reported their most pertinent results, confronting each other and an audience of more than 150 specialists from a wide range of scientific disciplines, including structural and molecular biology, biophysics, computer science, mathematics, and theoretical physics. The fourteen papers OCo and audience interaction OCo are edited and illustrated versions of the transcribed oral presentations. The proceedings have been selected for coverage in: . OCo Biochemistry & Biophysics Citation Index(tm). OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings). OCo CC Proceedings OCo Biomedical, Biological & Agricultural Sciences. Contents: Evolution-Based Genome Analysis: An Alternative to Analyze Folding and Function in Proteins (S Benner); Conformation of Charged Polymers: Polyelectrolytes and Polyampholytes (J-F Joanny); Statistically Derived Rules for RNA Folding (M Zuker); Experimental Approaches to RNA Folding (S Woodson); Some Questions Concerning RNA Folding (F Michel); RNA Folding in Ribosome Assembly (J R Williamson); From RNA Sequences to Folding Pathways and Structures: A Perspective (H Isamber t); An Evolutionary Perspective on the Determinants of Protein Function and Assembly (O Lichtarg e); Some Residues are more Equal than Others: Application to Protein Classification and Structure Prediction (A Kister & I Gelfan d); Structure-Function Relationships in Polymerases (M Delarue); The Protein-Folding Nucleus: From Simple Models to Real Proteins (L Mirn y); Chaperonin-Mediated Protein Folding (D Thirumalai); Virus Assembly and Maturation (J E Johnson); The Animal in the Machine: Is There a Geometric Program in the Genetic Program? (A Danchin). Readership: Researchers, academics and graduate students in structural biology, cellular and molecular biology, biophysics, biochemistry and biomathematics/bioinformatics."