Springer Water and Biomolecules: Physical Chemistry of Life Phenomena (Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering)

Life is produced by the interplay of water and biomolecules. This book deals with the physicochemical aspects of such life phenomena produced by water and biomolecules. All sections have been written by internationally recognized front-line researchers. Review From the reviews:“The book covers the physical chemistry of biological processes that involve the joint action of biomolecules and water … . the book contains some very interesting and well-written contributions to the physical chemistry of life processes that I can recommend to researchers working in this field. Some chapters also present extremely well-written overviews that would be interesting to read also for non-specialists. … this volume contains a pronounced variety of contributions both in their subject matter as well as the quality of presentation.” (Rudolf Podgornik, Journal of Biological Physics, Vol. 36, April, 2010) From the Back Cover Life is produced by the interplay of water and biomolecules. This book deals with the physicochemical aspects of such life phenomena produced by water and biomolecules, and addresses topics including "Protein Dynamics and Functions", "Protein and DNA Folding", and "Protein Amyloidosis". All sections have been written by internationally recognized front-line researchers. The idea for this book was born at the 5th International Symposium "Water and Biomolecules", held in Nara city, Japan, in 2008. About the Author Kunihiro Kuwajima is Professor of Biophysical Chemistry at the Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience. He also serves as a professor at the Institute for Molecular Science and at the Graduate University for Adavanced Studies (SOKENDAI). His major research interests are protein folding and molecular chaperones. Yuji Goto is Professor of Protein Science at the Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University. His major research interests are protein folding and misfolding including amyloid fibril formation. Fumio Hirata is Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the Institute for Molecular Science. He also serves as a professor at the Graduate University for Adavanced Studies (SOKENDAI). His major interests are molecular theory of chemical processes in solution. Mikio Kataoka is Professor of Biophysics at the Graduate School of Materials Science at Nara Institute of Science and Technology. He also serves as a group leader of Neutron Biophysics Group at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. His major research interests are the molecular basis of protein folding and functioning. He is also interested in the photoenergy conversion mechanism of light absorbing proteins.