Molecular Biophysics for the Life Sciences

by Norma Allewell, Linda O. Narhi, Ivan Rayment

Overview

This volume provides an overview of the development and scope of molecular biophysics and in-depth discussions of the major experimental methods that enable biological macromolecules to be studied at atomic resolution.  It also reviews the physical chemical concepts that are needed to interpret the experimental results and to understand how the structure, dynamics, and physical properties of biological macromolecules enable them to perform their biological functions. Reviews of research on three disparate biomolecular machines—DNA helicases, ATP synthases, and myosin—illustrate how the combination of theory and experiment leads to new insights and new questions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493942428
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	08/23/2016
Series:	Biophysics for the Life Sciences , #6
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2013
Pages:	397
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

Dr. Norma M. Allewell is Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics and Affiliate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, where she served as Dean of the College of Chemical and Life Sciences for a decade. Her research focuses on protein structure, function and dynamics, and metabolic regulatory mechanisms and diseases.

Dr. Linda Narhi is a Scientific Executive Director in the Product Attribute Science Group at Amgen, where her responsibilities include solution stability assessment of all protein-based therapeutic candidates, and developing and implementing predictive assays for protein stability to process, storage, and delivery conditions.

Dr. Ivan Rayment is Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he holds the Michael G. Rossmann Professorship in Biochemistry. He has a wide range of interests in structural biology and has made seminal contributions to our understanding of the structural basis of motility, enzyme evolution, cobalamin biosynthesis, and transposition.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Molecular Biophysics and the Life Sciences.- Structural, Physical, and Chemical Principles.- Part I. The Experimental Tools of Molecular Biophysics.- Optical Spectroscopic Methods for the Analysis of Biological Macromolecules.- Diffraction and Scattering of X-Rays and Neutrons.- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.- Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.- Mass Spectrometry.- Single Molecule Methods.- Part II. Biological Macromolecules as Molecular Machines: Three Examples.- Helicase Unwinding at the Replication Fork.- Rotary Motor ATPases.- Biophysical approaches to understanding the action of myosin as a molecular machine.- Part III. Future Prospects.- Future Prospects.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

“This valuable work describes the major methods used for characterizing biological macromolecules. The book is very readable and well organized, with 12 succinct chapters. … Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” (J. A. Kelly, Choice, Vol. 51 (10), June, 2014)

From the Publisher