The importance of lipids as one of the fundamental classes of biological compounds is well established. The application of our knowledge of the biochemistry, chemistry and physiology of lipids to biotechnology, the fats and oils industry and medicine have continued to expand apace. In addition new dimensions such as lipid biophysics, especially with relevance to membranes and lipoproteins, and basic liposome research and applications have been added. To cope with all these advances in knowledge a journal is needed to review recent progress in particular fields and to set current research against its historical background. Progress in Lipid Research fulfils this role. Each volume contains up-to-date surveys of special aspects of lipid research. The reviews are comprehensive enough to provide sufficient overview but concentrate on reporting and critically appraising the most recent data. Subjects are chosen for their timeliness or because major developments have taken place in the last few years. They include methodological reviews as well as chemical, biochemical and medical articles. All lipid compounds and derivatives are covered, ranging from fatty acids and other simple molecules, through steroids, terpenoids and phospho- or glycolipids to complex structures such as lipoproteins and biological membranes. We hope that those whose main interest is in lipid biophysics and liposome research will join as new readers, benefiting from the journal's classical aspects of lipid metabolism, lipids in signal transduction and lipid enzymology, and that current readers will benefit from the exposure to top quality research on the new aspects.

脂類化合物作為一類基本的生物化合物，其重要性已得到很好的證實。我們的生物化學、油脂化學和生理學知識在生物技術、油脂工業和醫藥領域的應用不斷擴大。此外，還增加了新的領域，如脂質生物物理學，特別是與細胞膜和脂蛋白有關的，以及基本脂質體的研究和應用。為了應對知識領域的所有這些進步，需要一本期刊來回顧特定領域的最新進展，并將當前的研究置于其歷史背景之下。脂質研究的進展實現了這一作用。每卷包含最新的調查，特別方面的脂質研究。這些審查是全面的，足以提供充分的概述，但集中于報告和批判性地評價最近的數據。選擇這些科目是由于它們的及時性，或者因為最近幾年發生了重大發展。它們包括方法學審查以及化學、生化和醫學文章。所有脂類化合物和衍生物都包括在內，從脂肪酸和其他簡單分子，到類固醇、萜類和磷脂或糖脂，再到復雜結構，如脂蛋白和生物膜。我們希望那些主要的興趣在于脂質生物物理學和脂質體的研究將加入新的讀者,受益于《華爾街日報》的經典脂質代謝、脂質信號轉導和脂酶學,現在的讀者將受益于暴露于高質量研究的新方面。