Cellulose, a key component of the plant cell wall, comprises the most abundant source of organic carbon on the planet and its microbial degradation is of considerable biological and industrial importance. Indeed, the microbial degradation of cellulose and other plant structural polysaccharides is critical to the maintenance of the carbon cycle in terrestrial and marine microbial ecosystems, host invasion by several phytopathogens, and herbivore nutrition. While the enzymes that attack cellulose are already widely used in several biotechnology-based industries, the major future application of these biocatalysts is the conversion of plant biomass into bio-ethanol and other forms of energy. In that context, the 2007 Conference will present the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of the enzymology, structural biology and (meta)genomics underpinning the conversion of plant structural polysaccharides into fermentable sugars, both in natural and engineered processes. There is also an increased emphasis on the roles of other carbohydrate active enzymes in plant biomass conversion. The themes for the scientific sessions include: i) crystallographic and biochemical analyses of enzyme structure and function; ii) molecular mechanisms underpinning enzyme catalysis, processivity and specificity; iii) functional and comparative analyses of carbohydrate binding modules and enzyme-substrate interactions; iv) directed evolution for the development of catalytically superior glycoside hydrolases; v) biophysical and structural analyses of native and chemically pretreated plant biomass and component polysaccharides; vi) genomics of specialist polysaccharide degrading microbes; vii) metagenomics and ecophysiology of plant biomass degradation in natural and engineered processes and; viii) enhancement of industrial bioprocesses by metabolic engineering and related approaches. While the Conference draws many of its participants from academia and government agencies, colleagues from industry have made many important and valuable contributions to the success of all the Conferences. This makes the Conference a truly interactive and productive venue for all sectors interested in the fundamental and applied sciences of cellulases, cellulosomes, and other carbohydrate active enzymes.