Fundamental Concepts in Biophysics Volume 1
HANDBOOK OF MODERN BIOPHYSICS Series Editor Thomas Jue, PhD Handbook of Modern Biophysics brings current biophysics topics into focus, so that biology, medical, engineering, mathematics, and physical-science students or researchers can learn fundamental c
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Series Editor Thomas Jue University of California Davis Davis, California
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Thomas Jue Editor
Fundamental Concepts in Biophysics
Volume 1
Editor Thomas Jue, Ph.D. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine University of California Davis One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616, USA [email protected]
ISBN: 978-1-58829-973-4 e-ISBN: 978-1-59745-397-4 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-59745-397-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2009921740
© Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Humana Press, c/o Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of going to press, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Cover Illustration: Patch-Clamp fluorometry of an excised inside-out membrane patch. Printed on acid-free paper springer.com/humana
PREFACE Over the past several years, I have organized and taught a core course in Modern Biophysics Techniques at the University of California Davis. Graduate students in biophysics, chemistry, physics, and engineering enroll in the class to survey the physical techniques that scientists use to study biology. Introducing the diverse and complex field of biophysics in an academically rigorous but interesting way poses daunting challenges. Indeed, the course has undergone many transformations and has tried on many styles: seminar/journal club, lecture/lab, and just plain didactic lecture formats. These, however, have achieved limited success, because they either assume a strong mathematics/physical-science background or reduce the physical science to a pedestrian level of knowledge, or demand that students trudge along with the expert researchers. None have attracted the interest of biology, physiology, or medical students, who must search for the biological meaning within biophysics. One major obstacle to developing an attractive but scholarly course centers on the balance between formalism and perspective. Each biophysics technique requires a mastery of a challenging set of physical-science/mathematics formalism. Yet even with mastery th
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