On October 25th, 2001 Shroud scientists, scholars and interested lay people gathered in Dallas, TX in the romantic setting of the Catholic Conference and Formation Center.

People came from many different countries and even different continents: Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Australia, China, Israel, Spain, Mexico and all over the USA. The Purpose of their coming was to hear about the latest results of Shroud research in physics, chemistry, biophysics, bio-chemistry, microscopy, pollen research, medicine, archaeology, the arts, history, art history, theology and more.

Thirty six speakers from around the world  including such great names as world renowned archaeologist Dr. William Meacham of Hong Kong, chemist Dr. Marie-Claire Van Oosterwyck-Gastuche of France, botanist Dr. Avinoam Danin of Jerusalem, noted historian Mark Guscin of Spain, educator and author Rex Morgan of Australia, joined by many renowned American Sindonologists.

The Conference was designed to pave the path of future research. Hence, most papers will contain findings never before revealed to the general public. To mention a few:

(1) Dr. William Meacham from Hong Kong, will reveal a well-planned procedure for a safe and accurate new C14 testing protocol with a new sampling strategy, pretreatment method and a much more accurate dating technique.

(2) Dr. Van Oosterwyck-Gastuche of France will show through new findings why the medieval age given to the Shroud by the 1988 C14 testing is unreliable.

(3) Dr. August Accetta of California will show the results of his latest research which studies imaging through the most modern, sophisticated tools of nuclear medicine, in order to better understand the possible radiation-caused image on the Shroud, which impacts on the mechanics of the Resurrection.

(4) Professor Avinoam Danin from Jerusalem will speak about his latest findings concerning the Floristic indicators in connection with the origin of the Shroud- namely plants and their pollen which are found in and around Jerusalem and their traces on the Shroud.

(5) Dr. Frederick Zugibe of the USA, through his expertise in forensic medicine will reveal new experimentation about possible alternative crucifixion methods and their consequences through physio-pathological effects.

(6) Dr. Mark Guscin has recently spent several weeks in monasteries on Mount Athos and found striking new evidence about the early history of the Shroud, dating back to the third, fourth, and fifth centuries.

(7) Dr. Daniel Scavone of the USA, through his recent historical research, has discovered the facts and events which fill in the missing 150 years in the Shroud's history between the 1204 Crusade and the first showing of the Shroud in Lirey, France.

(8) Mario Trematore, the courageous fireman of Turin, Italy will describe how he saved the Shroud from the devastating fire in the Turin Cathedral in 1997, and the supernatural strength that overcame him which allowed him to break 6 to 8 inches of bullet-proof and shatter-proof glass to save Christendom's greatest treasure and the most exhaustively studied objest on earth- the Shroud of Turin.

The Dallas International Shroud Conference is sponsored by two great organizations:
The Holy Shroud Guild and The American Shroud of Turin Association for Research, (AM*STAR), a scientific organization. The Conference Organizer is Texas attorney Michael Minor, who also serves as the Vice-President and General Counsel of AM*STAR. Mike is himself a Shroud scholar and author of articles and a book on the Shroud. This is the second Shroud conference he has successfully organized.

The program organizer and chair of the Peer Review Committee is Dame Isabel Piczek, an internationally renowned monumental artist and a particle physicist. The Very Rev. Frederick C. Brinkmann, C.Ss.R., is President of the Holy Shroud Guild and Dr. Thomas F. D'Muhala, a famed nuclear physicist, is the President of AM*STAR.