The Association for Laboratory Automation is sponsoring the event Lab Automation 2006 at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California from January 21-25, 2006. This event will focus on emerging laboratory technologies, and will feature such plenary speakers as Kurt Wurtrich, Ph.D., Professor of Biophysics, Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland and Cecil H. Ida M. Green Professor of Structural Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA USA; Harold Craighead, Ph.D., Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics, Charles W. Lake, Jr. Professor Engineering, Co-Director, Nanobiotechnology Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; William S. Rees, Jr., Ph.D., Program Manager of HSARPA’s Chemical Countermeasures Programs; Ruth West, Director of Visial Analytics and Interactive Technologies, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego, CA; and E.L. Kersten, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Despair, Inc.