Welcome to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to participate in the Fourthteen Latin-American
Symposium on Biomedical, Biopharmaceutical, and Industrial Applications of Capillary
Electrophoresis and Microchip Technology. First, I must express my appreciation to the Scientific
and Organizing Committee and to the institutions and companies whose generous contributions will help to make this a successful and scientifically rewarding event.

LACE (Latin American Capillary Electrophoresis) was created thirteen years ago to keep
Latin American scientists abreast of the latest advances in technology for microseparations,
specifically capillary electrophoresis and microchip technology. The objectives of the symposium
are to foster the development of applications in areas that directly benefit local needs, to
encourage the formation of personal worldwide networks to share information relating to these
innovative technologies, and to provide opportunities for students to participate in this dramatic
transition to a world in which we can study miniaturized chemical and biochemical interactions
and separations. For most of the past ten years, LACE has been held in the countries of Latin
America, but the symposium series has benefited from the interest and support of many
prestigious experts in CE from the U.S.A., Spain, and other European countries. Many of these
experts participate every year in these annual meetings endowing the conference with a truly
international perspective. In 2004, however, LACE was celebrated in Toledo, Spain, attracting
conferees from Spain, other European countries, Rusia and Latin America. We are planning to
celebrate LACE-2009, again in Spain, in the city of Seville.

In this year’s symposium, the members of the Scientific and Organizing Committee have
organized a truly comprehensive program covering many different areas of application of
miniaturized techniques in the hope that the presentations will provide the delegates with