With screening and selection of biocatalysts being undervalued in Europe in comparison with USA and especially Japan, the working parties "Applied Biocatalysis" and "Microbial Physiology" of the European Federation of Biotechnology decided to organise an international symposium entitled "New Frontiers in Screening for Microbial Biocatalysts".Novel screening techniques, microbial biodiversity, microbial physiology and molecular genetics were discussed to give better insights into possibilities and limitations of obtaining biocatalysts from nature.These proceedings provide a comprehensive overview of the present state-of-the-art in the field of biocatalysts screening.