Purpose of the Conference The Transatlantic Airway Conference is now in its 28th year and is held annually with a purpose of reviewing recent advances in lung biology. The principle objectives of the conference are, first, to summarize current knowledge and suggest new investigative approaches to enhance our understanding of fundamental mechanisms underlying a well-focused aspect of lung biology. Second, the conference aims to assemble a multidisciplinary group of scientists from within and outside the pulmonary research community in this area of lung biology. Finally, a major aspect of the conference should be to encourage exchange of ideas among investigators in different countries.

We would like to believe that the 28th conference on “Clinical Heterogeneity of Asthma and COPD: Cellular Mechanisms of Relevance to Disease Biomarkers and Treatment” successfully addressed these aims. Under the chairmanship of John Fahy, participants discussed recent advances in our understanding of the heterogeneity of these conditions, the mechanisms that underlie this heterogeneity, and the relevance for treatment of these conditions. This symposium report formed the basis of these productive discussions. We would like to thank the following participants: Stephen Holgate, Wendy Moore, Alvar Agusti, Meilan Han, Hans

Biscart, Ian Pavord, Peter Gibson, Sally Wenzel, Serpil Erzurum, Fernando Martinez, Pieter Hiemstra, Prescott Woodruff, Avrum Spira, Joe Arron, and Chris Brightling. Scientific Committee: William MacNee University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland John Fahy University of California, San Francisco, California Laurent Nicod University of Laussane, Switzerland Adam Wanner University of Miami, Florida

Author disclosures are available with the text of this article at www.atsjournals.org.

Ann Am Thorac Soc Vol 10, Supplement, p S107, Dec 2013 Copyright © 2013 by the American Thoracic Society DOI: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201307-233AW Internet address: www.atsjournals.org

Purpose of the Conference

S107