Introduction: Old Concepts — New Challenges

Abstract

Scientific research is in an era of expansion in which much of the dogma that we have been using as a frame of reference is being replaced by information at an extraordinarily complex level of molecular organization. The difficulties encountered in any given discipline are further compounded when as bioengineers an attempt is made to interpret data from the life sciences on the basis of the tools of a physical science. Our focus at this Conference is on Circulatory Dynamics and if one has to crystalize the ultimate organizational purpose of the Cardiovascular System, it is to nourish the population of cells that make up the various organs and tissues of the body. In that context, the heart and large arterial blood vessels serve only an ancillary role. The actual dynamics of this life-sustaining activity are accomplished by functional adjustments in the peripheral vessels lying within the tissue that is being supplied with blood. It is therefore fitting that this Conference should begin by focussing on the so-called “microcirculation.”