Protein folding and disease: a view from the first Horizon Symposium

October 2002 saw the launch of a new series of discussion meetings, the Horizon Symposia, organized jointly by Nature Publishing Group and Aventis. Chris Dobson was invited to act as rapporteur for the inaugural Symposium, on the topic of 'Protein Folding and Disease'. In this article he brings together some of the threads of the meeting to give a personal 'snapshot' of the state of play in this fast-moving interdisciplinary field.