This new text examines thebiophysics and biochemistry of nucleic acids and proteins, carving outthe dynamic interface between chemistry and molecular biology, and providing adetailed picture of nucleic acids and proteins, their structures, biologicalproperties, and origins and evolution.
All living things contain carbon in some form, as it is the primary component of macromolecules including proteins, lipids, nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), and carbohydrates. As a matter of fact, it is the backbone of all organic (chemistry) compounds forming different kinds of bonds. Carbon: The Black, the Gray and the Transparent is not a complete scientific history of the material, but a book that describes key discoveries about this old faithful element while encouraging broader perspectives and approaches to its research due to its vast applications. All allotropes of carbon are described in this book, along with their properties, uses, and methods of procurement or manufacturing. Black carbon is represented by coal, gray carbon is represented by graphite, and transparent carbon is represented by diamond.
Biotechnology in Japan is a complete guide to economic, scientific and regulatory aspects of Japanese research centres and companies. Profiles for more than 400 private Japanese companies and almost 200 universities and research institutes are given in great detail. Ministries providing research guidelines and ongoing research projects are analysed. The book is the first comprehensive source in the English language and is of particular interest to consultants, managers and researchers seeking cooperation with Japanese partners.
The structure, function and reactions of nucleic acids are central to molecular biology and medicine and are crucial for understanding of the ever-expanding range of complex biological processes involved which are central to life. Revised, extended, updated and lavishly illustrated, this 4th Edition of Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology is a long-awaited standard text for teaching and research in nucleic acids science. It maintains the close integration of chemistry and biology that characterised the earlier editions and contains a major expansion largely focused on the burgeoning growth of RNA science. Written by an international team of leading experts, all with extensive teaching experience, this 4th Edition provides up-to-date and extended coverage of the reactions and interactions of RNA and DNA with proteins and drugs. A brief history of the discovery of nucleic acids is followed by a molecule-based introduction to the structure and biological roles of DNA and RNA and the basics of Genes and Genomes. New key chapters are devoted to non-coding RNA, nucleic acids sequencing, nucleic acid therapeutics, in vitro evolution and aptamers, and protein-RNA interactions. The text is linked to an extensive list of references to make it a definitive reference source. This authoritative volume presents topics in an integrated manner and readable style with full colour illustrations throughout. It is ideal for graduate and undergraduate students of chemistry and biochemistry, biophysics and biotechnology, and molecular biology and medicine. It will be a guidebook for new researchers to the field of nucleic acids science.
This book is a short introduction to the engineering principles of harnessing the vast potential of microorganisms, and animal and plant cells in making biochemical products. It was written for scientists who have no background in engineering, and for engineers with minimal background in biology. The overall subject dealt with is process. But the coverage goes beyond the process of biomanufacturing in the bioreactor, and extends to the factory of cell’s biosynthetic machinery. Starting with an overview of biotechnology and organism, engineers are eased into biochemical reactions and life scientists are exposed to the technology of production using cells. Subsequent chapters allow engineers to be acquainted with biochemical pathways, while life scientist learn about stoichiometric and kinetic principles of reactions and cell growth. This leads to the coverage of reactors, oxygen transfer and scale up. Following three chapters on biomanufacturing of current and future importance, i.e. cell culture, stem cells and synthetic biology, the topic switches to product purification, first with a conceptual coverage of operations used in bioseparation, and then a more detailed analysis to provide a conceptual understanding of chromatography, the modern workhorse of bioseparation. Drawing on principles from engineering and life sciences, this book is for practitioners in biotechnology and bioengineering. The author has used the book for a course for advanced students in both engineering and life sciences. To this end, problems are provided at the end of each chapter.
Studying the origin of life is one of man’s greatest achievements over the last sixty years. The fields of interest encompassed by this quest are multiple and interdisciplinary: chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry, mathematics, geology but also statistics, atmospheric science, meteorology, oceanography, and astrophysics. Recent scientific discoveries, such as water on Mars and the existence of super-Earths with atmospheres similar to primordial Earth, have pushed researchers to simulate prebiotic conditions in explaining the abiotic formation of molecules essential to life. This collection of articles offers an overview of recent discoveries in the field of prebiotic chemistry of biomolecules, their formation and selection, and the evolution of complex chemical systems.
Authors Dave Nelson and Mike Cox combine the best of the laboratory and best of the classroom, introducing exciting new developments while communicating basic principles of biochemistry.
The relation between life and death is a subject of perennial relevance for all human beings--and indeed, the whole world and the entire universe, in as much as, according to the saying of ancient Greek philosophy, all things that come into being pass away. Yet it is also a topic of increasing complexity, for life and death now appear to be more intertwined than previously or commonly thought. Moreover, the relation between life and death is also one of increasing urgency, as through the twin phenomena of an increase in longevity unprecedented in human history and the rendering of death, dying, and the dead person all but invisible, people living in the industrialized and post-industrialized Western world of today have lost touch with the reality of death. This radically new situation, and predicament, has implications--medical, ethical, economic, philosophical, and, not least, theological--that have barely begun to be addressed. This volume gathers together essays by a distinguished and diverse group of scientists, theologians, philosophers, and health practitioners, originally presented in a symposium sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.