This special issue of Redox Biology contains a carefully-selected peer-reviewed set of papers related to presentations made at the UK Biochemical Society Meeting on “Low Molecular Weight (LMW) Thiols: Lessons Learned and New Perspectives”. This meeting was originally scheduled to take place in October 2020 in London, but the Covid pandemic made it not possible. Therefore, the meeting was held virtually from 7th to 9th December 2020, co-organised by Prof. Ivan Gout (University College London) and Prof. Barry Halliwell
This was the first Focused Meeting on LMW thiols, which brought together researchers across the world, studying different members of a structurally and functionally diverse family of LMW thiols. Key goals were to share and advance knowledge and to create an environment for innovative thinking and establishing collaborative interactions.
The meeting was dedicated to the memory of Prof. Arne Holmgren, a well-known redox pioneer. The meeting thus started with a tribute to his career and legacy, which was given by Prof. Barry Halliwell. There were three main sessions, covering the following topics: a) Glutathione and bacillithiol; b) Coenzyme A and ageing; and c) Ergothioneine. Many exciting findings and highlights were presented by invited speakers, ranging from novel modes of redox-induced protein modifications and their identification by mass spectrometry-based methodologies through to dysregulation of LMW thiols function in ageing and pathologies. This is the first meeting that has emphasized the rapid build-up of exciting new research on coenzyme A, bacillithiol and ergothioneine. Each session had three short oral talks selected from submitted abstracts, which gave an excellent opportunity for junior researchers to present and discuss their findings. In addition, two keynote lectures were given by John Helmann on “The Diverse Roles of Bacillithiol” and Barry Halliwell on “Adventures with Ergothioneine”; both of whom have papers included in this issue.
