Preface, Thomas Dittmar, Kurt S. Zänker (Witten/ Herdecke University, Witten, Germany); 1 Introduction, Thomas Dittmar, Kurt S. Zänker (Witten/ Herdecke University, Witten, Germany); 2 Heterochronic control of AFF-1-mediated cell-to-cell fusion in C. Elegans, Lilach Friedlander-Shani, Benjamin Podbilewicz (Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel); 3 Role of SNAREs in membrane fusion, Bahnu P. Jena (Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA); 4 Molecular and cellular mechanisms of mammalian cell fusion, Xiaofeng Zhou, Jeffrey L. Platt (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA); 5 Membrane fusions during mammalian fertilization, B.M. Gadella (Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands), Janice P. Evans (John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA); 6 Trophoblast fusion, Berthold Huppertz, Martin Gauster (Medical University Graz, Graz, Austria); 7 Macrophage fusion and multinucleated giant cells of inflammation, Amy K. McNally, James M. Anderson (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA); 8 Molecular mechanisms of myoblast fusion across species, Adriana Simionescu, Grace K. Pavlath (Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA); 9 Cell-fusion-mediated reprogramming: Pluripotency of transdifferentiation? Implications for regenerative medicine, Daniela Sanges, Frederic Lluis, Maria Pia Cosma (Center for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain); 10 Cell fusion and tissue regeneration, Manuel Álvarez-Dolado, Magdalena Martínez-Losa (Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Seville, Spain); 11 Dendritic cell-tumour cell fusion vaccines, Walter T. Lee (Duke University Medical Center, Durjam, NC, USA); Index