During the last years the heat shock response has been studied as a model system to analyze control mechanisms regulating the synthesis of heat shock proteins providing important general insight into the regulation of gene expression. But the major revelation, which has sparked interest from all quarters of biology, is the discovery that heat shock proteins play major roles in an extraordinary variety of normal cellular processes. They are the focus of investigations in many areas of cell biology, including protein trafficking, signal transduction, DNS replication, transcription, protein synthesis, and in the assembly of diverse protein structures. These aspects are thoroughly treated in the book, as are the implications in immunology, infectious diseases, chronic degeneration, hyperthermia, and cancer research.