The book contains articles written by leading authorities in their respective fields of research. It presents current frontiers and future guidelines for research based on important discoveries made in the field of bioactive natural products.
- Volume 28 is part of a great family of useful reference books
- Illustrates the types of critical discoveries that emerge from the interface of chemistry and biology
- Contributions are from well-respected authors

The book provides an overview on various microorganisms and their industrialization in energy conversion, such as ethanol fermentation, butanol fermentation, biogas fermentation and fossil energy conversion. It also covers microbial oil production, hydrogen production and electricity generation. The content is up to date and suits well for both researchers and industrial audiences.

Photoreactive thin films have been investigated extensively due to the advances in photonics, and the coupling between photochemistry and nonlinear optics has developed into a new discipline since the 1990s. Light can manipulate the orientation of optically sensitive chromophores containing polymeric thin films, and this phenomena has important applications to the field of opto-electronics and photonics especially in such areas as liquid crystals and optical storage of information.;Scientists from different communities have been working in this area representing such fields as chemistry, chemical engineering, polymer science and optics. The purpose of this books is to provide a comprehensive reference covering the basic fundamentals of the interdisciplinary research as well as the applications in photonics.

The Springer Handbook of Enzymes provides concise data on some 5,000 enzymes sufficiently well characterized - and here is the second, updated edition. Their application in analytical, synthetic and biotechnology processes as well as in food industry, and for medicinal treatments is added. Data sheets are arranged in their EC-Number sequence. The new edition reflects considerable progress in enzymology: the total material has more than doubled, and the complete 2nd edition consists of 39 volumes plus Synonym Index. Starting in 2009, all newly classified enzymes are treated in Supplement Volumes.

This book presents an overview of the ways in which the latest experimental and theoretical nanotechnologies are serving the fields of biotechnology, medicine, and biomaterials. They not only enhance the efficiency of common therapeutics and lower their risks, but thanks to their specific properties, they also provide new capabilities. Nano-scale measurement techniques, such as nano-indentation and nano-scratch methods, could potentially be used to characterize the physical and mechanical properties of both natural tissues and synthetic biomaterials in terms of strength and durability.

-Morphology of Filamentous Fungi: Linking Cellular Biology to Process Engineering Using Aspergillus niger, By Rainer Krull, Christiana Cordes, Harald Horn, Ingo Kampen, Arno Kwade, Thomas R. Neu, and Bernd Noertemann; -Multi-Scale Spatio-Temporal Modeling: Lifelines of Microorganisms in Bioreactors and Tracking Molecules in Cells, By Alexei Lapin, Michael Klann, and Matthias Reuss; -Impact of Profiling Technologies in the Understanding of Recombinant Protein Production, By Chandran Vijayendran and Erwin Flaschel -Engineering the Escherichia coli Fermentative Metabolism, By M. Orencio-Trejo, J. Utrilla, M.T. Fernandez-Sandoval, G. Huerta-Beristain, G. Gosset, and A. Martinez; -Modeling Languages for Biochemical Network Simulation: Reaction vs Equation Based Approaches, By Wolfgang Wiechert, Stephan Noack, and Atya Elsheikh; -Impact of Thermodynamic Principles in Systems Biology, By J.J. Heijnen;

Plant tissue culture and advanced biotechnologies have proven to be influential tools that complement conventional breeding and accelerate development of many medicinal plants. Various approaches, such as pathway engineering, precursor feeding, transformation, elicitation with biotic and abiotic elicitors and scaling up in bioreactors, have been explored to improve the production of secondary metabolites from different medicinal plants. This book provides a comprehensive description of various studies, carried out on in vitro culture and hairy root cultures of Catharanthus roseus, Silybum marianum and Digitalis species which have been considered as alternative sources for the production of anti-tumour compounds, flavonolignans and cardenolides. Specific focus is on elicitation strategy for increasing production of bioactive compounds of C. roseus L., S. marianum and Digitalis species to overcome the constrains of conventional propagation. This book is valuable for researchers or students working on medicinal plants, phytochemistry, and plant tissue culture. It also serves as a reference for the pharmaceutical industry.

The International Symposia on Plant Lipids, the 15th of which was held in Okazaki, Japan, in May 12-17, 2002, is held every two years and is the only international meeting in this field. The contributions from the symposium collected in this book represent the most up-to-date research results on plant lipids,including their structure, analysis, biosynthesis, regulation, physiological function, environmental aspects, and biotechnology, obtained world-wide during 2000-2002.

Laser microdissection techniques have revolutionized the ability of researchers in general, and pathologists in particular, to carry out molecular analysis on specific types of normal and diseased cells and to fully utilize the power of current molecular technologies including PCR, microarrays, and proteomics. In second edition of Laser Capture Microdissection: Methods and Protocols, experts in the field provide the reader with practical advice on how to carry out tissue-based laser microdissection successfully in their own laboratory using the different laser microdissection systems that are available and to apply a wide range of molecular technologies. The individual chapters encompass detailed descriptions of the individual laser based micro-dissection systems. The downstream applications of the laser microdissected tissue described in the book include PCR in its many different forms as well as gene expression analysis including application to microarrays and proteomics. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Laser Capture Microdissection: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition is an ideal resource for researchers striving to move forward our understanding of normal physiology and pathology.

Over the last decades, scientists have been intrigued by the fascinating organisms that inhabit extreme environments. These organisms, known as extremophiles, thrive in habitats which for other terrestrial life-forms are intolerably hostile or even lethal. Based on such technological advances, the study of extremophiles has provided, over the last few years, ground-breaking discoveries that challenge the paradigms of modern biology. In the new bioeconomy, fungi in general, play a very important role in addressing major global challenges, being instrumental for improved resource efficiency, making renewable substitutes for products from fossil resources, upgrading waste streams to valuable food and feed ingredients, counteracting life-style diseases and antibiotic resistance through strengthening the gut biota, making crop plants more robust to survive climate change conditions, and functioning as host organisms for production of new biological drugs. This range of new uses of fungi all stand on the shoulders of the efforts of mycologists over generations. The book is organized in five parts: (I) Biodiversity, Ecology, Genetics and Physiology of Extremophilic Fungi, (II) Biosynthesis of Novel Biomolecules and Extremozymes (III) Bioenergy and Biofuel synthesis, and (IV) Wastewater and biosolids treatment, and (V) Bioremediation.

The central theme of this book "Microbial BioEnergy: Hydrogen Production" is focused on the biological machinery that microorganisms use to produce hydrogen gas.The book summarizes the achievements over the past decade in the biochemistry, structural and molecular biology, genomics and applied aspects of microbial H2-production, including microbial fuel cells (MFC), by phototrophs such as purple sulfur and non-sulfur bacteria ("Thiocapsa" spp., "Rhodobacter "and "Rhodopseudomonas" spp.) microalgae ("Chlamydomonas")and cyanobacteria ("Anabaena spp.") along with anaerobes and thermophiles such as "Caldicellulosiruptor "and "Thermotoga." This is the first bookof this series entirely devoted to microbial bio-hydrogen production and is intended to be a precious source of information for PhD students, researchers and undergraduates from disciplines such as microbiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, photochemistry and chemical engineering, interested in basic and applied sciences."

The past 30 years have seen the emergence of a growing desire worldwide that positive actions be taken to restore and protect the environment from the degrading effects of all forms of pollution - air, water, soil, and noise. Since pollution is a direct or indirect consequence of waste production, the seemingly idealistic demand for "zero discharge" can be construed as an unrealistic demand for zero waste. However, as long as waste continues to exist, we can only attempt to abate the subsequent pollution by converting it to a less noxious form. Three major questions usually arise when a particular type of pollution has been identi ed: (1) How serious is the pollution? (2) Is the technology to abate it available? and (3) Do the costs of abatement justify the degree of abatement achieved? This book is one of the volumes of the Handbook of Environmental Engineering series. The principal intention of this series is to help readers formulate answers to the last two questions above. The traditional approach of applying tried-and-true solutions to speci c pollution problems has been a major contributing factor to the success of environmental engineering, and has accounted in large measure for the establishment of a "methodology of pollution control. " However, the realization of the ever-increasing complexity and interrelated nature of current environmental problems renders it imperative that intelligent planning of pollution abatement systems be undertaken.

Biomedical Materials provides a comprehensive discussion of contemporary biomaterials research and development. Highlighting important topics associated with Engineering, Medicine and Surgery, this volume reaches a wide scope of professionals, researchers and graduate students involved with biomaterials. A pedagogical writing style and structure provides readers with an understanding of the fundamental concepts necessary to pursue research and industrial work on biomaterials, including characteristics of biomaterials, biological processes, biocompatibility, and applications of biomaterials in implants and medical instruments.

Written by leading researchers in the field, this text book takes readers to the forefront of biomedical materials development, providing them with a taste of how the field is changing, while also serving as a useful reference to physicians and engineers.

Personalized medicine, which simply means selection of treatment best suited for an individual, involves integration and translation of several new technologies in clinical care of patients. The scope is much broader than indicated by the term genomic medicine because many non-genomic factors are taken into consideration in developing personalized medicine. Basic technologies for personalized medicine, of which molecular diagnostics has the biggest share, are mentioned briefly and appropriate references are given for further information. Commercial aspects are discussed briefly in a chapter and detailed analysis of markets and companies involved in personalized medicine is presented in a special report on this topic.

There is increasing interest in personalized medicine. Considerable advances have taken place in molecular biology and biotechnology to make personalized medicine a viable option, but some misconceptions still exist, both in the academic and commercial sectors. There is lack of a suitable source of information that provides both the fundamentals as well as applications of personalized medicine. As the latest version of the first monograph on personalized medicine published in 1998, this volume, Textbook of Personalized Medicine, summarizes the author's efforts during the past decade, as well as reviews selected studies done during this period in a readable format for the physicians and scientists. It is hoped that physicians, pharmacists, scientists and interested lay readers with basic scientific knowledge will find this book useful.

Ionic Surfactants and Aqueous Solutions: Biomolecules, Metals and Nanoparticles covers a wide range of subjects related to aqueous systems, from reverse micelles as ion exchangers to the study of micellar phase transfer catalysis for nucleophilic substitution reactions. The diverse background, expertise and professional interests of the contributors to this book give to it a unique richness of approach in topics of relevance for biotechnology and environmental studies. Over sixty publications presenting research results are combined and expanded in this book by some of the original researchers. At a mature age, and at the summit of successful professional careers, they have taken a second look to the state of the art in the fields that they had pioneered. Eva Rodil and Ana Soto, who had their research formation in the group of Professor Alberto Arce at Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, are presently professors at that university, Maen Husein is a professor at University of Calgary, Canada. Remy Dumortier, Mohammad Khoshkbarchi, Hamid Rabie and Younok Dumortier Shin, are presently active leaders in the industrial world in Canada and the USA. The editors are retired academics from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and coauthors of the book Classical Thermodynamics of Fluid Systems.

Organoselenium Chemistry is a unique resource in this branch of organic/organometallic chemistry. The authors give an overview of synthesis strategies, introduce bioactive and environmentally friendly organoselenium compounds and discuss their applications from organic synthesis to the clinic.

In recent years, new yeast species have proven their value and novel biotechnological applications have emerged. This book compiles the multi-faceted genetic repertoire of several yeasts relevant to modern biotechnology, and describes their utilization in research and application in the light of their genetic make-up and physiological characteristics. Moreover, the book presents a thorough overview of a wide array of methodologies from classical genetics to modern genomics technologies that have been and are being used in functional analysis of yeasts.

Of all things natural, light is the most sublime. From the very existential belief of the origins of the universe to its role in the evolution of life on earth, light has been inextricably woven into every aspect of our lives. I am grateful to Springer-Verlag and Thomas Scheper for this invitation to organize this volume that continues to expand the use of light to create next generation sensing applications. Indeed, the very act of expanding the frontiers of learning and knowledge are referred to in many languages and cultures as enlightenment. Early optical instruments relied largely on simple combinations of mirrors, prisms and lenses. With these simple devices, substantial progress was made in our understanding of the properties of light and of its interactions with matter. Things got more complicated with the evolution of optical instruments in labo- tory use. Early systems used bulky and expensive hardware to generate light, split it into the desired wavelengths and finally collect it for analysis. The discovery of the laser pushed the technology further, but did not do much to make its adoption more widespread as the lasers themselves were large and required substantial el- trical power to operate. The true revolution is just beginning. Advances in mic- electronics have resulted in the possibility of truly low-cost (using the consumer electronics industry as a parallel) devices that exploit optical measurement technology.

This book describes cutting-edge science and technology of the characterization, breeding, and development of yeasts and fungi used worldwide in fermentation industries such as alcohol beverage brewing, bread making, and bioethanol production. The book also covers numerous topics and important areas the previous literature has missed, ranging widely from molecular mechanisms to biotechnological applications related to stress response/tolerance of yeasts and fungi. During fermentation processes, cells of yeast and fungus, mostly Saccharomyces and Aspergillus oryzae spp., respectively, are exposed to a variety of fermentation "stresses". Such stresses lead to growth inhibition or cell death. Under severe stress conditions, their fermentation ability and enzyme productivity are rather limited. Therefore, in terms of industrial application, stress tolerance is the key characteristic for yeast and fungal cells. The first part of this book provides stress response/tolerance mechanisms of yeast used for the production of sake, beer, wine, bread, and bioethanol. The second part covers stress response/tolerance mechanisms of fungi during environmental changes and biological processes of industrial fermentation. Readers benefit nicely from the novel understandings and methodologies of these industrial microbes. The book is suitable for both academic scientists and graduate-level students specialized in applied microbiology and biochemistry and biotechnology and for industrial researchers and engineers who are involved in fermentation-based technologies. The fundamental studies described in this book can be applied to the breeding of useful microbes (yeasts, fungi), the production of valuable compounds (ethanol, CO2, amino acids, organic acids, and enzymes) and the development of promising processes to solve environmental issues (bioethanol, biorefinery).

This is the first book covering all aspects of high pressure biochemistry and biophysics of proteins.

Hydrostatic pressure is a powerful tool for study of biological systems. As a thermodynamic parameter, hydrostatic pressure has been known for a century to act on biological materials in a similar, but not identical, way to temperature. However, pressure was disregarded for a long time by biochemists mainly because the basic concepts (and the thermodynamics) focused on the chemical reactions involved and because general ideas on what pressure can add to the understanding of the behaviour of proteins were lacking. In recent decades, technological progress in the field of physics has shown, along with parameters such as temperature and solvent conditions, that pressure can be used for more refined thermodynamic and kinetic descriptions of biological processes and regulation of biological systems. The effects of pressure on proteins, nucleoproteins and membranes have recently been reviewed and several proceedings books have been published.

This book offers an overview of the diverse fields application of proteases (also termed proteolytic enzymes or proteinases), including food science and technology, pharmaceutical industries, and detergent manufacturing, reviewing the advances in the biotechnological application plant proteolytic enzymes over the last decade. In recent years, they have been the focus of renewed attention from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, not only because of their activity on a wide variety of proteins but also because they are active over a range of temperatures and pHs. The main audience of this book are researchers working with plant proteases but also professionals from several industry segments such as food production and pharmaceutical companies.

"Applied Computational Genomics" focuses on an in-depth review of statistical development and application in the area of human genomics including candidate gene mapping, linkage analysis, population-based, genome-wide association, exon sequencing and whole genome sequencing analysis. The authors are extremely experienced in the area of statistical genomics and will give a detailed introduction of the evolution in the field and critical evaluations of the advantages and disadvantages of the statistical models proposed. They will also share their views on a future shift toward translational biology. The book will be of value to human geneticists, medical doctors, health educators, policy makers, and graduate students majoring in biology, biostatistics, and bioinformatics. Dr. Yin Yao Shugart is investigator in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland USA. "

Modern analytical biotechnology is focused on the use of a set of enabling platform technologies that provide contemporary, state-of-the-art tools for genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, drug discovery, screening, and analysis of natural product molecules. Thus, analytical biotechnology covers all areas of bioanalysis from biochips and nano-chemistry to biology and high throughput screening. Moreover, it aims to apply advanced automation and micro fabrica tion technology to the development of robotic and fluidic devices as well as integrated systems. This book focuses on enhancement technology development by promoting cross-disciplinary approaches directed toward solving key problems in biology and medicine. The scope thus brings under one umbrella many different techniques in allied areas. The purpose is to support and teach the fundamental principles and practical uses of major instrumental techniques. Major platforms are the use of immobilized molecules in biotechnology and bioanalysis, im munological techniques, immunological strip tests, fluorescence detection and confocal techniques, optical and electrochemical biosensors, biochips, micro dotting, novel transducers such as nano clusters, atomic force microscopy based techniques and analysis in complex media such as fermentation broth, plasma and serum. Techniques related to HPLC, capillary electrophoresis, gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry have not been included in this book but will be covered by further publications. Fundamentals in analytical biotechnology include basic and practical aspects of characterizing and analyzing DNA, proteins, and small metabolites.