Jacques Bourbon, Ph.D., is Research Director at the Center for Cellular Biology of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S.) at Ivry-sur-Seine, France., Dr. Bourbon obtained his Maîtrise (B.Sc. degree) in Physiology at the Faculty of Sciences of Paris, France, in 1969 and a Doctorat es Sciences (doctoral degree) in Natural Sciences at the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, in 1980. He has worked under the direction of Professor Alfred Jost at the Comparative Physiology Laboratory, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, and at the Developmental Physiology Laboratory, Collège de France, Paris., Dr. Bourbon is a member of the European Tissue Culture Association and the European Respiratory Society. He has been the recipient of research grants from the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (I.N.S.E.R.M.). He has been Research Associate, Department of Pediatrics, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, at the University of Texas at Dallas, for which he also received a grant from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs., Dr. Bourbon has published 40 scientific papers, is coauthor of 3 books, and has been invited to give lectures and seminars at universities and other scientific institutions from Europe and the U.S. His current research interests are in differentiation and functional maturation of lung cells in keeping with problems linked to neonatal pulmonary immaturity.