The development of specific antibodies as probes and detectors for adsorbed proteins by Dr. Leo Vroman and co-workers in the 1960s and 1970s confirmed his earlier observations and suspicions that blood protein adsorption involved a hierarchical series of collision, adsorption, and exchange processes. These observations and concepts were confirmed by other scientists and came to be known as 'the Vroman effect'. The core concept of the Vroman effect admits many approaches and over-reaches complex and not fully resolved questions of enzymology, transport phenomena, the statistical mechanics of protein conformation, longrange forces in liquids, and surface physics.

This volume contains the presentations from the symposium which was held in honour of the 75th birhday of Dr. Leo Vroman, in Gouda, The Netherlands, and deals with various aspects of the Vroman effect.