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These are the proceedings of an IUTAM Symposium on Cellular, Molecular and Tissue Mechanics, held in the summer of 2008 at Woods Hole, Mass, USA. This groundbreaking meeting brought together mechanicians having an interest in biological systems, with biophysicists and biologists in order to address the mechanical basis of biology at the molecular, cellular and tissue scales. The meeting explored a wealth of phenomena in cell and molecular biology all of which display a breadth of mechanical influences that may seem surprising at first glance to the traditional mechanician. This arena for the application of methods developed in mechanics has not drawn as much attention as more traditional tissue biomechanics. However, biophysicists, and even biologists apply ideas of elasticity and structural mechanics quite widely in studying molecules and cells. Many critical functions of biomolecules and cells are fundamentally mechanical in origin, and the mechanics of many biomolecules demonstrate scaling laws that are non-classical to traditional structural mechanics and elasticity. This compilation of the scientific papers presented at the meeting will prove invaluable to researchers in the mechanics of biology as this field develops in the decades to come and takes its place as an acknowledged and central area in biology.

This practical book provides the detailed methodology and expert guidance required for measuring and manipulating cytosolic ion concentrations. In addition, the strengths, weaknesses, and pitfalls of various techniques are presented. It is an invaluable source for those needing an objective evaluation of current methodologies and for those contemplating setting up such procedures. - A one-source reference for measuring and manipulating intracellular ions and for comparing and evaluating current methodologies - Includes overviews of Optical probes and reagents - Fabrication and use of ion-selective microelectrodes - Use of NMR spectroscopy - Ionophores

This book is dedicated to the discussion of several biomedical applications of the mechanical phenotyping of cells and tissues to specific disease models. The topical chapters on mechanics in disease are preceded by chapters describing cell and tissue structure and their relationship with the biomechanical properties, as well as by the description of dedicated sample preparation methods for the nano- and microscale mechanical measurements.

The book addresses the main processes of cellular and molecular physiology in living organisms. It serves to create a bridge between biophysics and cellular and molecular biology, in which the determining factor is time. This approach will enhance the understanding of biophysics for students of medicine, biology, physics and engineering, among others. Thanks to the progress of scientific and technological research, the biological sciences have become quantitative. From an analogue description of the properties of living organisms, we have now moved to their spatio-temporal quantification, with the understanding that all natural processes are digital events. The dynamic processes at the heart of cellular excitability, muscle contraction, through to the perception of the surrounding environment, are based on probabilistic events that, today, are not only interpretable, but potentially predictable. The book contributes to this ongoing revolution in biology by drawing more and more young people into this fascinating world.

All living matter is comprised of cells, small compartments isolated from the environment by a cell membrane and filled with concentrated solutions of various organic and inorganic compounds. Some organisms are single-cell, where all life functions are performed by that cell. Others have groups of cells, or organs, specializing in one particular function. The survival of the entire organism depends on all of its cells and organs fulfilling their roles. While the cells are studied by different sciences, they are seen differently by biologists, chemists, or physicists. Biologists concentrate their attention on cell structure and function. What the cells consists of? Where are its organelles? What function each organelle fulfils? From a chemists'point of view, a cell is a complex chemical reaction chamber where various molecules are synthesized or degraded. The main question is how these, sometimes very complicated chains of reactions are controlled. Finally, from a physics standpoint, some of the fundamental questions are about the physical movement of all these molecules between organelles within the cell, their exchange with the extracellular medium, as well as electrical phenomena resulting from such transport. The aim of this book is to look into the basic physical phenomena occurring in cells. These physical transport processes facilitate chemical reactions in the cell and various electrical effects, and that in turn leads to biological functions necessary for the cell to satisfy its role in the mother organism. Ultimately, the goals of every cell are to stay alive and to fulfill its function as a part of a larger organ or organism. The first volume of this book is an inventory of physical transport processes occurring in cells while this second volume provides a closer look at how complex biological and physiological cell phenomena result from these very basic physical processes.

This book describes the newest discoveries on calcium signaling happening at the cellular and intracellular membranes, often exerted in so called microdomains. Calcium entry and release, its interaction with proteins and resulting events on proteins and organelles are comprehensively depicted by leading experts in the field. Knowledge about details of these highly dynamic processes rapidly increased in recent years, the book therefore provides a timely summary on the processes of calcium signaling and related membrane dynamics; it is aimed at students and researchers in biochemistry and cell biology.

This book is the autobiography of Shinya Inoué, tracing his life from childhood to the present. Though he has made many contributions to science, perhaps the most remarkable one involves the visualization of dynamics in living cells by means of a polarizing light microscope, an innovation that changed the face of cell biology.Addressing readers curious to know why and how he achieved such success, the story begins with a prologue describing the end of World War II and Inoué's lifelong collaborator, the great cell biologist Katsuma Dan. Following the prologue, the author's childhood and teenage experiences during World War II are described, before the focus shifts to his scientific career and personal life.The book not only offers important tips for young researchers, it will also help them develop a passion for science.

Molecular Biology of Assemblies and Machines provides a comprehensive narrative of the ways in which macromolecular structures assemble and how they interact with other complexes and organelles in the cell. Richly illustrated in full color, the text is written for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers in biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, cell biology, chemistry, structural biology, immunology, microbiology, and medicine.

This book covers topics on mechanosensing, mechanotransduction, and actin cytoskeletal dynamics in cell motility. It will contribute to a better understanding of how cells functionally adapt to their mechanical environment as well as highlighting fundamental concepts for designing material niches for cell manipulation. With topics from multidisciplinary fields of the life sciences, medicine and engineering, the book is the first of its kind, providing comprehensive, integrated coverage of innovative approaches to cell biomechanics. It provides a valuable resource for seniors and graduate students studying cell biomechanics and is also suitable for researchers interested in the application of methods and strategies in connection with the innovative approaches discussed. Each section of the book has been supplemented with concrete examples and illustrations to facilitate understanding even for readers unfamiliar with cell biomechanics.

Cell Physiology Source Book gathers together a broad range of ideas and topics that define the field. It provides clear, concise, and comprehensive coverage of all aspects of cellular physiology from fundamental concepts to more advanced topics. The 4e contains substantial new material. Most chapters have been thoroughly reworked. The book includes chapters on important topics such as sensory transduction, the physiology of protozoa and bacteria, and synaptic transmission. - Authored by leading researchers in the field - Clear, concise, and comprehensive coverage of all aspects of cellular physiology, from fundamental concepts to more advanced topics - Full color illustrations

Cells are complex objects, representing a multitude of structures and processes. In order to understand the organization, interaction and hierarchy of these structures and processes, a quantitative understanding is absolutely critical. Traditionally, statistical mechanics-based treatment of biological systems has focused on the molecular level, with larger systems being ignored. This book integrates understanding from the molecular to the cellular and multi-cellular level in a quantitative framework that will benefit a wide audience engaged in biological, biochemical, biophysical and clinical research. It will build new bridges of quantitative understanding that link fundamental physical principles governing cellular structure and function with implications in clinical and biomedical contexts.

The writing of this book is based on: 1. earlier experience writing textbooks for biology students with a university-level background in biology and biochemistry with many (>200)?gures in these books (in Hungarian), 2. and on the necessity to present university lectures as power point presentations to catch the interest of s- dents. The author realizes that young readers who were grown up in an information society are relactant to read too much unless they have to take exams. Even then they prefer books which contain illustrations for a better understanding. In collaboration with colleagues, referees and members of the publishing staff an extensive set of photographs and illustrations were collected to provide a graphic follow-up to the text. Further aids for the student, instructor and the curious reader are provided by summaries, extensive sets of readings and references for each chapter, a glossary of the terms, list of abbreviations and a DVD with a red-blue eyeglass to visualize three dimensional chromatin structures. The reader could ask: Why another book on apoptosis? The answer to the question is related to the de?nition of the process. The term apoptosis has been introduced to describe typical morphological changes leading to controlled se- destruction of cells. The?rst demonstrated biochemical feature of this type of cell death was internucleosomal fragmentation, which was occasionally preceded by the generation of large DNA fragments.

Phase transitions occur throughout nature. The most familiar example is the one that occurs in water – the abrupt, discontinuous transition from a liquid to a gas or a solid, induced by a subtle environmental change. Practically magical, the ever-so-slight shift of temperature or pressure can induce an astonishing transition from one entity to another entity that bears little resemblance to the first. So'convenient'a feature is seen throughout the domains of physics and chemistry, and one is therefore led to wonder whether it might also be common to biology. Indeed, many of the most fundamental cellular processes are arguably attributable to radical structural shifts triggered by subtle changes that cross a critical threshold. These processes include transport, motion, signaling, division, and other fundamental aspects of cellular function. Largely on the basis of this radical concept, a symposium was organized in Poitiers, France, to bring together people who have additional evidence for the role of phase transitions in biology, and this book is a compendium of some of the more far-reaching of those presentations, as well as several others that seemed to the editors to be compelling. The book should be suitable for anyone interested in the nature of biological function, particularly those who tire of lumbering along well trodden pathways of pursuit, and are eager to hear something fresh. The book is replete with fresh interpretations of familiar phenomena, and should serve as an excellent gateway to deeper understanding.

The human genome of three billion letters has been sequenced. So have the genomes of thousands of other organisms. With unprecedented resolution, modern technologies are allowing us to peek into the world of genes, biomolecules, and cells - and flooding us with data of immense complexity that we are just barely beginning to understand. A huge gap separates our knowledge of the components of a cell and what is known from our observations of its physiology. The authors have written this graduate textbook to explore what has been done to close this gap of understanding between the realms of molecules and biological processes. They have gathered together illustrative mechanisms and models of gene regulatory networks, DNA replication, the cell cycle, cell death, differentiation, cell senescence, and the abnormal state of cancer cells. The mechanisms are biomolecular in detail, and the models are mathematical in nature. The interdisciplinary presentation will be of interest to both biologists and mathematicians, and every discipline in between.

It is now well established that all living systems emit a weak but permanent photon flux in the visible and ultraviolet range. This biophoton emission is correlated with many, if not all, biological and physiological functions. There are indications of a hitherto-overlooked information channel within the living system. Biophotons may trigger chemical reactivity in cells, growth control, differentiation and intercellular communication, i.e. biological rhythms. The basic experimental and theoretical framework as well as the technical problems and the wide field of applications in the biotechnical, biomedical engineering, engineering, medicine, pharmacology, environmental science and basic science fields are presented in this book. To promote the dialog and mutual penetration between biophoton research and photon technology is one of the important goals for the International Conference on Biophotons & Biophotonics 2003, and is developed and presented in Biophotonics: Optical Science and Engineering in the 21st Century.

This completely revised and updated source book provides comprehensive and authoritative coverage of cell physiology and membrane biophysics. Intended primarily as a text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and as a reference for researchers, this multidisciplinary book includes several new chapters and is an invaluable aid to scientists interested in cell physiology, biophysics, cell biology, electrophysiology, and cell signaling.• Includes broad coverage of both animal and plant cells • Appendices review basics of the propagation of action potentials, electricity, and cable properties

The first section of this volume consists of five chapters to the nature of membrane transport systems. A chapter on secondary active glucose transport has been omitted because this topic is slated to appear in the Nephrobiology module. Chapter 6 deals with oxidase control of plasma membrane proton transport, while chapter 7 addresses the question of how cell volume is regulated. Although we chose not to have a separate chapter covering additional co-transport systems namely, Na+ -K+ -2CI-, KCI, -HCO-3, as well as CI- -HCO-3 exchange and K+ and CI- movements through channels, the role of each in cell volume regulation is emphasized in Chapter 7. Instead of devoting an entire section to the thermodynamics of metabolism, we thought it desirable to have the subjects of medical imaging and NMR of cell metabolism discussed in some detail in two chapters. These are followed by a chapter on the thermodynamic instrument - the calorimeter. Calrimetry allows the measurement of net changes of heat in cells, tissues, organs and whole body. As will be recognized, heat dissipation does not arise only from chemical reactions but also from interactions between macromolecules and conformational changes in protein complexes and mass Ca2+ movement such as that occurring in contracting skeletal muscle. The last chapter provides an account of equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the enthalpy balance method. It reveals that calometric measurements are useful in studies of clinical and toxicological problems.

Calmodulin Antagonists and Cellular Physiology focuses on the biochemistry of calmodulin antagonists as regulators of cellular physiology. Emphasis is placed on the use of calmodulin antagonists as an indicator of calmodulin function. The mechanism of action of calmodulin antagonists and their interactions with calmodulin are explored. This book is comprised of 33 chapters and begins with an introduction to the biochemical aspects of calmodulin as well as its distribution and functions, followed by a discussion on how calmodulin antagonists and other agents modulate Ca2+-dependent regulatory systems. The next section is devoted to the mechanism of action of calmodulin antagonists and includes chapters that examine the interaction of various drugs with calmodulin and the structure-activity relationships of calmodulin antagonists. The effects of calmodulin antagonists on cell proliferation and growth are then discussed. The remaining chapters deal with the role of calmodulin antagonists in cell function and the contractile process, along with their effect on protein kinase C. This monograph will be a useful resource for biochemists as well as students and researchers in biochemistry.