Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize our lives and to provide technological solutions to our problems in energy, the environment and medicine. To fully realize this potential we need to be able to control the synthesis of nanoparticles, the construction of nano-devices, the characterization of materials on the nanoscale, as well as to understand the effects of these things on our environment and our health. This conference will bring together physicists, chemists and materials scientists at the forefront of the science of making and characterizing materials at the nanoscale, with biologists and biochemists at the forefront of applying these discoveries in the medical and biological sphere. It serves two purposes. First to bring together research active basic and applied scientists from different backgrounds in an intimate atmosphere to learn about needs and scientific advances in the forefront of their respective fields and to build interactions and collaborations. Second, it will provide a rich educational opportunity for students and young researchers attending from different scientific backgrounds. The talks are designed to be comprehensible to someone outside the speakers' discipline so that the exciting advances are made accessible to a broader audience.