Comprehensive Biophysics

Biophysics is a rapidly-evolving interdisciplinary science that applies theories and methods of the physical sciences to questions of biology. Biophysics encompasses many disciplines, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, biochemistry, medicine, pharmacology, physiology, and neuroscience, and it is essential that scientists working in these varied fields are able to understand each other's research. Comprehensive Biophysics, Nine Volume Set will help bridge that communication gap. Written by a team of researchers at the forefront of their respective fields, under the guidance of Chief Editor Edward Egelman, Comprehensive Biophysics, Nine Volume Set provides definitive introductions to a broad array of topics, uniting different areas of biophysics research - from the physical techniques for studying macromolecular structure to protein folding, muscle and molecular motors, cell biophysics, bioenergetics and more. The result is this comprehensive scientific resource - a valuable tool both for helping researchers come to grips quickly with material from related biophysics fields outside their areas of expertise, and for reinforcing their existing knowledge. Biophysical research today encompasses many areas of biology. These studies do not necessarily share a unique identifying factor. This work unites the different areas of research and allows users, regardless of their background, to navigate through the most essential concepts with ease, saving them time and vastly improving their understanding The field of biophysics counts several journals that are directly and indirectly concerned with the field. There is no reference work that encompasses the entire field and unites the different areas of research through deep foundational reviews. Comprehensive Biophysics fills this vacuum, being a definitive work on biophysics. It will help users apply context to the diverse journal literature offering, and aid them in identifying areas for further research Chief Editor Edward Egelman (E-I-C, Biophysical Journal) has assembled an impressive, world-class team of Volume Editors and Contributing Authors. Each chapter has been painstakingly reviewed and checked for consistent high quality. The result is an authoritative overview which ties the literature together and provides the user with a reliable background information and citation resource

Comprehensive Biomedical Physics, Ten Volume Set is a new reference work that provides the first point of entry to the literature for all scientists interested in biomedical physics. It is of particularly use for graduate and postgraduate students in the areas of medical biophysics. This Work is indispensable to all serious readers in this interdisciplinary area where physics is applied in medicine and biology. Written by leading scientists who have evaluated and summarized the most important methods, principles, technologies and data within the field, Comprehensive Biomedical Physics is a vital addition to the reference libraries of those working within the areas of medical imaging, radiation sources, detectors, biology, safety and therapy, physiology, and pharmacology as well as in the treatment of different clinical conditions and bioinformatics. This Work will be valuable to students working in all aspect of medical biophysics, including medical imaging and biomedical radiation science and therapy, physiology, pharmacology and treatment of clinical conditions and bioinformatics. The most comprehensive work on biomedical physics ever published Covers one of the fastest growing areas in the physical sciences, including interdisciplinary areas ranging from advanced nuclear physics and quantum mechanics through mathematics to molecular biology and medicine Contains 1800 illustrations, all in full color

Designed for biology, physics, and medical students, Introductory Biophysics: Perspectives on the Living State, provides a comprehensive overview of the complex subject of biological physics. The companion CD-ROM, with MATLAB examples and the student version of QuickFieldTM, allows the student to perform biophysical simulations and modify the textbook example files. Included in the text are computer simulations of thermodynamics, astrobiology, the response of living cells to external fields, chaos in population dynamics, numerical models of evolution, electrical circuit models of cell suspension, gap junctions, and neuronal action potentials. With this text students will be able to perform biophysical simulations within hours. MATLAB examples include; the Hodgkin Huxley equations; the FitzHugh-Nagumo model of action potentials; fractal structures in biology; chaos in population dynamics; the cellular automaton model (the game of life); pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems. QuickFieldTM tutorials and examples include; calculation of currents in biological tissue; cells under electrical stimulation; induced membrane potentials; heat transfer and analysis of stress in biomaterials.

This comprehensive and extensively classroom-tested biophysics textbook is a complete introduction to the physical principles underlying biological processes and their applications to the life sciences and medicine. The foundations of natural processes are placed on a firm footing before showing how their consequences can be explored in a wide range of biosystems. The goal is to develop the readers’ intuition, understanding, and facility for creative analysis that are frequently required to grapple with problems involving complex living organisms. Topics cover all scales, encompassing the application of statics, fluid dynamics, acoustics, electromagnetism, light, radiation physics, thermodynamics, statistical physics, quantum biophysics, and theories of information, ordering, and evolutionary optimization to biological processes and bio-relevant technological implementations. Sound modeling principles are emphasized throughout, placing all the concepts within a rigorous framework. With numerous worked examples and exercises to test and enhance the reader’s understanding, this book can be used as a textbook for physics graduate students and as a supplementary text for a range of premedical, biomedical, and biophysics courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It will also be a useful reference for biologists, physicists, medical researchers, and medical device engineers who want to work from first principles.

The Encyclopedia of Biophysics is envisioned both as an easily accessible source of information and as an introductory guide to the scientific literature. It includes entries describing both Techniques and Systems. In the Techniques entries, each of the wide range of methods which fall under the heading of Biophysics are explained in detail, together with the value and the limitations of the information each provides. Techniques covered range from diffraction (X-ray, electron and neutron) through a wide range of spectroscopic methods (X-ray, optical, EPR, NMR) to imaging (from electron microscopy to live cell imaging and MRI), as well as computational and simulation approaches. In the Systems entries, biophysical approaches to specific biological systems or problems – from protein and nucleic acid structure to membranes, ion channels and receptors – are described. These sections, which place emphasis on the integration of the different techniques, therefore provide an inroad into Biophysics from a biological more than from a technique-oriented physical/chemical perspective. Thus the Encyclopedia is intended to provide a resource both for biophysicists interested in methods beyond those used in their immediate sub-discipline and for those readers who are approaching biophysics from either a physical or biological background.

Neural network research often builds on the fiction that neurons are simple linear threshold units, completely neglecting the highly dynamic and complex nature of synapses, dendrites, and voltage-dependent ionic currents. Biophysics of Computation: Information Processing in Single Neurons challenges this notion, using richly detailed experimental and theoretical findings from cellular biophysics to explain the repertoire of computational functions available to single neurons. The author shows how individual nerve cells can multiply, integrate, or delay synaptic inputs and how information can be encoded in the voltage across the membrane, in the intracellular calcium concentration, or in the timing of individual spikes.Key topics covered include the linear cable equation; cable theory as applied to passive dendritic trees and dendritic spines; chemical and electrical synapses and how to treat them from a computational point of view; nonlinear interactions of synaptic input in passive and active dendritic trees; the Hodgkin-Huxley model of action potential generation and propagation; phase space analysis; linking stochastic ionic channels to membrane-dependent currents; calcium and potassium currents and their role in information processing; the role of diffusion, buffering and binding of calcium, and other messenger systems in information processing and storage; short- and long-term models of synaptic plasticity; simplified models of single cells; stochastic aspects of neuronal firing; the nature of the neuronal code; and unconventional models of sub-cellular computation.Biophysics of Computation: Information Processing in Single Neurons serves as an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in cellular biophysics, computational neuroscience, and neural networks, and will appeal to students and professionals in neuroscience, electrical and computer engineering, and physics.

Exploring current themes in modern computational and membrane protein biophysics, this book presents a comprehensive account of the fundamental principles underlying different methods and techniques used to describe the intriguing mechanisms by which membrane proteins function. The book discusses the experimental approaches employed to study these proteins, with chapters reviewing recent crucial structural advances that have allowed computational biophysicists to discern how these molecular machines work. The book then explores what computational methods are available to researchers and what these have taught us about three key families of membrane proteins: ion channels, transporters and receptors. The book is ideal for researchers in computational chemistry and computational biophysics.