The Guest Editors S.G. Spiro R.M. Huber S.M. Janes S.G. Spiro was Head of the Dept of Thoracic Medicine at University College London Hospitals (London, UK) until December 2008 from 2001–2002 he was Medical Director. During 1996–1997 he was the President of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and served as a member of the European Respiratory Journal Editorial Board for many years. He is also a former editor of Thorax and was Chair of the Royal College of Physicians Subcommittee on Respiratory Medicine (1997–2001). In 2004 he was President of the British Thoracic Society. His major interests include clinical trials in lung cancer and he was Co-Chair of the London Lung Cancer Group, a national clinical trials group in the UK. He also participates on other international bodies concerned with the treatment of lung cancer. His other research interests include respiratory physiology and sleep- disordered breathing. R.M. Huber is Professor of Medicine at the Medical School at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and Head of the Division of Respiratory Medicine at the University Hospital of Munich, (Munich, Germany). He is also Chair of Thoracic Oncology section of the Cancer Centre of Munich. His research is focused on local endoscopic therapy, detection and treatment of early lung cancer, reactions of the bronchial wall (organ cultures, co-cultures and lung slices) and radiochemotherapy of locally advanced cancer, as well as integration of new systemic therapies in the management of lung cancer. He is the principal investigator of several multicenter studies on the treatment of lung cancer. R.M. Huber is Head of the ERS Thoracic Oncology Assembly and a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie of the German Cancer Society. He was a board member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fu Pneumologie and co-chair of its Thoracic Oncology section. He is also the Secretary of the Su ¨ddeutsche Gesellschaft fu Pneumologie. He has been, and is currently, a member of several national and international Task Forces covering all aspects of respiratory medicine. S.M. Janes is a Consultant in respiratory and general medicine at University College London Hospitals. In 2006, he co-organised the British Association for Lung Research meeting on Stem Cells. He also co-organised the 2009 ERS Lung Science Conference in Estoril, Portugal. He was Guest Editor for a review issue of International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology on respiratory epithelial biology. S.M. Janes is also Chair of the Lung Head and Neck and Neurology group, which is currently planning a new cancer centre. He is currently running the BOOST trial (a new pathway with BronchOscopic or Oesophageal ultrasound for lung cancer diagnosis and STaging), which is run by a Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellow. He is also co- principle investigator of the lung-SEARCH trial: a randomised controlled trial of surveillance for early lung cancer in a high-risk group. vii