360 It would be impossible to cover even briefly the distinguished work accomplished by Kobata and his colleagues during this period. Suffice to say the laboratory published no fewer than 128 full papers during the period 1983-1993, covering the glycobiology of many glycoproteins of biological or therapeutical interest. Two outstanding contributions are the demonstration of a change in IgG glycosylation associated with rheumatoid conditions and the increased branching patterns of glycans in tumours. On his retirement from the University of Tokyo, Kobata accepted a new challenge as Director of Research at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. In spite of onerous managerial responsibilities involved in directing a large institute, Kobata has already founded his own laboratory from which we can confidently expect a continued prodigious outflowing of quality papers. Kobata's many honours include the award of a Fogarty Scholar in Residence at the National Institutes of Health and the Hudson award of the American Chemical Society.