INTRODUCTION.
Why Giant Vesicles? (P. Luisi).
Giant Vesicles: A Historical Introduction (D. Lasic).
PREPARATION METHODS.
Liposome Electroformation (M. Angelova).
Formation of Giant Vesicles from Different Kinds of Lipids Using the Electroformation Method (A. Fischer, et al.).
Observation of a Variety of Giant Vesicles under an Optical Microscope (Ken-ichirou Akashi et al).

BASIC THEORETICAL ASPECTS.
Bending Elasticity of Fluid Membranes (W. Helfrich).
Giant Vesicles: A Theoretical Perspective (U. Seifert).
Free Energy of a Fluctuating Vesicle. Influence of the Fluctuations on the Laplace Law (I. Bivas).

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES.
Use of Micropipet Manipulation Techniques to Measure the Properties of Giant Lipid Vesicles (David Needham and Doncho Zhelev)
Fluctuating Vesicle Shapes (H.-G. Döbereiner).
Oblate-Prolate Transition of Ellipsoidal Magnetoliposomes: Experiments showing an Anisotropic Spontaneous Curvature (Olivier Sandre et al).
Micromanipulation of Tubular Vesicles (L. Xu H.-G. Döbereiner).
Electromechanical Properties of Model Membranes and Giant Vesicle Deformations (Phillipe Méléard et al).
Mechanical Properties of Lipid Bilayers Containing Grafted Lipids (I. Bivas, et al.).
Motion of Particles Attached to Giant Vesicles: Falling Ball Viscosimetry and Elasticity Measurements on Lipid Membranes (Rumiana Dimova et al).
Control of Fusion Between Giant Vesicles (Sek Wen Hui et al)
Membrane Roughness and Dispersive Phase as Effects of Higher-order Bending in Fluid Membranes (Beate Klösgen et al).
Swelling and Separation of DOPC Multilayer Systems (J. Thimmel, et al.).
Dynamic Aspects of Fatty Acid Vesicles: pH-induced Vesicle-Micelle Transition and Dilution-induced Formation of Giant Vesicles (Ayako Goto et al).

CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS.
Giant Liposomes as Model Biomembranes for Roles of Lipids in Cellular Signalling ( P. Kinnunen, et al.).
Microinjection of Macromolecules in Giant Vesicles Prepared by Electroformation (Thomas Oberholzer et al).
Enzymatic Reactions in Giant Vesicles (P. Walde).
Giant Phospholid Vesicles Entrapping Giant DNA (Shin-ichirou Nomura et al).
Cell Deformation Mechanisms Studies with Actin-containing Giant Vesicles, a Cell-mimicking System (Hidetake Miyata et al).
Light-Induced Shape Transitions of Giant Vesicles ( P. Petrov H.-G. Döbereiner).
Changes in the Morphology of Giant Vesicles Under Various Physico-chemical Stresses (Marie-Alice Guedeau-Boudeville et al).
Magnification of Shpae Fluctuations of Active Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (Jean-Baptiste Manneville et al).
Entrapment of Proteins in Soybean Phosphatidylcholine Vesicles (M. Imai, et al.).
Study on Stress-mediated Behavior and Preparation of Giant Vesicles (Toshinori Shimanouchi et al).
Molecular Organization on Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (S. Gangl, et al.).
Membrane Properties of Archaeal Phospholipids: Effect of Macrocyclization (Olivier Dannenmuller et al).
Indexes.