used. Generally in the development of a process, research activity will start with the physiology of the immobilized cells and be concluded by scale-up and application. Guidelines for the different phases in research are given below. Springer Lab Manual about immobilized cells The Springer Lab Manual about immobilized cells is structured in such a way that guidelines that resulted from the conference Immobilized Cells: Basics and Applications were followed and translated into some practical methods. As for the guidelines for immobilized cells a structure was chosen in which general aspects of immobilization were covered, the kinetics were described and engineering aspects were covered. Besides laboratory meth­ ods some simple calculation procedures have been given in this lab man­ ual. The combination of the practical methods with the calculations pro­ vide a tool for carrying out research with immobilized cells. The lab manual concludes with some recent, promising and practical cases of immobilized cells as examples of applications with potential.