This volume brings together a plethora of protocols and experimental methods used by scientists to study calpains, their inhibitors, and their substrates. It also explores bioinformatic approaches to calpain substrate identification. The chapters in this book are divided into five parts and cover topics such as production and purification of calpains; determination of calpain localization, expression, and activity; identification of calpain-activated protein function; interrogation of calpastatin; and manipulation of calpain expression. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology 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. Cutting-edge and practical, Calpain: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for researchers and scientists who want to learn more about this developing field, and get inspired to make new discoveries that will aid in diagnosing and treating calpain-related diseases.

Over the last three decades, the interface between chemistry and biology has grown increasingly dynamic, resulting in the rapid expansion of communication and collaboration amongst research scientists, faculty and students in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, biology, bioengineering, and beyond. This is due in part to society's growing demand for scientists, engineers and practitioners who can bring a more interdisciplinary approach to their work. For this reason, new elective courses at the undergraduate level that address topics crossing the traditional boundaries of chemistry and biology are increasingly necessary, as are courses that can provide traditional chemistry students with additional insight into the fundamental role that chemistry plays in the function and evolution of biological systems. Morrow's book builds on the foundation of a one-year introductory course in organic chemistry, focusing on familiar organic chemical processes associated with the biosynthesis of primary and secondary metabolites, with special emphasis on the latter group. Ultimately, it brings to undergraduate science majors the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of fundamental mechanistic organic chemistry within a meaningful biological context that goes far beyond the usual boxed essays or supplemental problems that increasingly crowd the margins of many introductory organic chemistry textbooks. The book offers ideal support for courses in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, pre-medicine and bioengineering programs.

Volume 608 of the series Methods in Enzymology covers key aspects of enzyme discovery, engineering tools and platforms, and examples of applications in the enzymology of synthetic biology.

Computational Molecular modelling in Structural Biology, Volume 113, the latest release in the Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on charting the Bromodomain BRD4: Towards the Identification of Novel Inhibitors with Molecular Similarity and Receptor Mapping, and Computational Methods to Discover Compounds for the Treatment of Chagas Disease.

An accompanying volume (Volume 6) in this series presents strategies of cellular invasion from the viewpoint of the microbe.
This filed of study is growing rapidly after a somewhat slow start over recent decades. This collection of invited chapters attempts to reflect current research, and brings together cell biologists, microbiologists and immunologists with disparate interests. However, there is a certain unity, even repetition of key themes, hopefully like a symphony rather than a boring catalogue. It will be evident that editorial bias favors intracellular paratism and medically important organisms. The neutrophil is far more than a supporting player to the macrophage, and some attempt is made to remind the reader of some of its unique skills. To retain a manageable size, the emphasis is on relatively early events such as mutual recognition, cell entry, and response, rather than on longterm changes in gene expression by either host cell or pathogen. Viruses are excluded not because of lack of importance but because of somewhat different research approaches, although it is cytogenes, share common strategies in invasion and intercellular spread.

This book presents an overview of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), their mechanisms of antimicrobial action, other activities, and various problems that must still be overcome regarding their clinical application. Divided into four major parts, the book begins with a general overview of AMPs (Part I), and subsequently discusses the various mechanisms of antimicrobial action and methods for researching them (Part 2). It then addresses a range of activities other than antimicrobial action, such as cell penetration, antisepsis, anticancer, and immunomodulatory activities (Part 3), and explores the prospects of clinical application from various standpoints such as the selective toxicity, design, and discovery of AMPs (Part 4). A huge number of AMPs have been discovered in plants, insects, and vertebrates including humans, and constitute host defense systems against invading pathogenic microorganisms. Consequently, many attempts have been made to utilize AMPs as antibiotics. AMPs could help to solve the urgent problem of drug-resistant bacteria, and are also promising with regard to sepsis and cancer therapy. Gathering a wealth of information, this book will be a bible for all those seeking to develop antibiotics, anti-sepsis, or anticancer agents based on AMPs.

This book discusses the methods synthesizing various carbon materials, like graphite, carbon blacks, carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. It also details different functionalization and modification processes used to improve the properties of these materials and composites. From a geometrical-structural point of view, it examines different properties of the composites, such as mechanical, electrical, dielectric, thermal, rheological, morphological, spectroscopic, electronic, optical, and toxic, and describes the effects of carbon types and their geometrical structure on the properties and applications of composites.

Selenium and Tellurium Reagents provides an in-depth overview of recent advances on the chemistry of these elements. Written by internationally recognized experts, it gives insight into the synthesis, structure, analysis and mechanistic studies of these compounds. The book is organized into four parts which reflect the applications of Se and Te reagents in four areas: inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, materials science and biochemistry.

Advances in Clinical Chemistry, Volume 86, the latest installment in this internationally acclaimed series, contains chapters authored by world-renowned clinical laboratory scientists, physicians and research scientists. The serial discusses the latest and most up-to-date technologies related to the field of clinical chemistry, and is the benchmark for novel analytical approaches in the clinical laboratory.

The book provides a detailed state-of-the-art overview of inorganic chemistry applied to medicinal chemistry and biology. It covers the newly emerging field of metals in medicine and the future of medicinal inorganic chemistry. Further it includes metal based medicines used in alternative systems of Ayurveda as well as Tibetan Zuotai to make it a holistic approach. It is an essential reading for every researcher and student in medicinal and bioinorganic chemistry.

Phyto-pathogens are one of the dominating components which badly affect crop production. In light of the global food demand, sustainable agricultural plans utilizing agrochemicals became necessary. The role of beneficial microbes in the defense priming of host plants has been well documented. This book details new aspects of microbial-assisted plant protection and their role in agricultural production, economy, and environmental sustainability.

This volume focuses on mitochondrial RNA metabolism, emphasizing recent discoveries and technological advances in this fast moving area that increase our understanding of mitochondrial gene function. Topics addressed include the interplay of mitochondria with the nucleus and cytosol, structure-function connections, and relevance to human disease. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, and a great deal is known about mitochondrial energy metabolism. Less well known is the plethora of amazing mechanisms that have evolved to control expression of mitochondrial genomes. Several RNA processes and machineries in protozoa, plants, flies and humans are discussed, including: transcription and RNA polymerase mechanism; tRNA processing of 5' and 3' ends; mRNA maturation by nucleotide insertion/deletion editing and by RNA splicing; mRNA stability; and RNA import. Specialized factors and ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) examined include pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins, RNase P, polymerases, helicases, nucleases, editing and repair enzymes. Remarkable features of these processes and factors are either not found outside mitochondria, differ substantially among eukaryotic lineages, or are unique in biology.

This volume provides readers with a collection of the latest protocols used by researchers to study polyamines (PA). The chapters in this book cover various topics, such as quantification of different polyamines and conjugates, subcellular localization studies, transport, DNA methylation, ODC regulation, genetic and phenotyping analyses, genome-wide association mapping, polyamine applications and cancer. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology 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. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Polyamines: Methods and Protocols is a useful reference for researchers looking to advance and stimulate their knowledge of polyamines.

Gangliosides in Health and Disease, Volume 156, presents the latest information on Gangliosides, a class of glycolipids that are found on all vertebrate cell surfaces, and are particularly abundant in the brain. Individual chapters in this new volume cover Gangliosides as Toxin Receptors, Gangliosides in Cancer Cell Signaling, Gangliosides in inflammation and neurodegeneration, Gangliosides as functional galectin receptors, Gangliosides in signal transduction, Gangliosides in brain tumor immunology, and Gangliosides in axon regeneration and stability, amongst other related topics. This book brings together world experts in ganglioside structure and function who have been assembled to contribute to this thorough update of the field.

The critically acclaimed laboratory standard for more than forty years, Methods in Enzymology is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. Now with more than 300 volumes (all of them still in print), the series contains much material still relevant today--truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.

This book reviews the advances and challenges of structure-based drug design in the preclinical drug discovery process, addressing various diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis and cancer. Written by internationally recognized researchers, this edited book discusses how the application of the various in-silico techniques, such as molecular docking, virtual screening, pharmacophore modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, and residue interaction networks offers insights into pharmacologically active novel molecular entities. It presents a clear concept of the molecular mechanism of different drug targets and explores methods to help understand drug resistance. In addition, it includes chapters dedicated to natural-product- derived medicines, combinatorial drug discovery, the CryoEM technique for structure-based drug design and big data in drug discovery. The book offers an invaluable resource for graduate and postgraduate students, as well as for researchers in academic and industrial laboratories working in the areas of chemoinformatics, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacoinformatics.

This thesis describes the authors' pioneering efforts in the conceptualization and implementation of combined platinum-based immuno-chemotherapeutics, which represent a significant paradigm shift from the conventional approach of directly targeting cancer. The work described has opened up a rich and largely unexplored area for platinum-based drug design, and ultimately paves the way for superior immuno-chemotherapeutics with better clinical outcome for patients. Historically, the contribution of the immune system to chemotherapy outcomes has been neglected, as anticancer drugs were believed to be immunosuppressive. However, this has been challenged by contemporary evidence suggesting that many chemotherapeutics, including platinum-based agents, stimulate the innate and/or adaptive immune system and that these "secret allies" contribute tangibly to clinical outcomes. A multi-pronged immuno-chemotherapeutic approach not only shrinks tumors, but more importantly, reactivate dormant immune responses to malignancies, eliminating residual cancer cells.

This book provides a modern and easy-to-understand introduction to the chemical equilibria in solutions. It focuses on aqueous solutions, but also addresses non-aqueous solutions, covering acid-base, complex, precipitation and redox equilibria. The theory behind these and the resulting knowledge for experimental work build the foundations of analytical chemistry. They are also of essential importance for all solution reactions in environmental chemistry, biochemistry and geochemistry as well as pharmaceutics and medicine. Each chapter and section highlights the main aspects, providing examples in separate boxes. Questions and answers are included to facilitate understanding, while the numerous literature references allow students to easily expand their studies.

Chemical and Biochemical Approaches for the Study of Anesthetic Function, Part A, Volume 602 assembles new information on our understanding of anesthesia. This latest release in the series includes sections on how physical accuracy leads to biological relevance, best practices for simulating ligand-gated ion channels interacting with general anesthetics, computational approaches for studying voltage-gated ion channels modulation by general anesthetics, anesthetic parameterization, pharmacophore QSAR, QM, ONIOM, and kinetic modeling of electrophysiology data.

Epigenetics and Psychiatric Disease, Volume 157, the latest volume in the Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science series, includes recent developments on a variety of topics, including the Epigenetic landscapes of the adversity-exposed brain, Chromosomal conformations and epigenomic regulation in schizophrenia, Progress in the epigenetics of depression, the epigenetics of circadian rhythms in imprinted neurodevelopmental disorders, DNA methylation mediating substance abuse, mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities, DNA methylation in animals model of psychosis, Epigenetics of early life stress, Epigenetic drugs for mood disorders, and more.

Methods in Enzymology, Volume 607: Phosphatases, the latest release in this ongoing series, highlights new advances in the field as detailed by an international board of authors. This latest release includes chapters on Empirical Valence Bond Simulations of the Evolution of Enzyme Function, QM/MM Free Energy and Kinetic Isotope Analysis of Phosphoryl Transfer in Enzymes, the Structural, Mechanism and Evolution of Phosphatases, How to Define Rapid Motions in Pumping Pyrophosphatases, The Evolution of K+-Independence in Pyrophosphatases, the Crystallization of Michaelis, Intermediate and Inhibited Complexes in Phosphatases, and an Investigation of Nucleotide Loading and Effector Binding of K-Ras.

This book covers the latest developments in metalloenzymes, including characterizing metal bridging in proteins and peptides, copper(II) complexes of marine peptides, high-spin Co(II) in model and metalloprotein systems to enzymes such as the molybdenum-containing enzymes, CW and pulse EPR of cytochrome P450 enzymes and the radical S-adenosylmethionine FeS family. In the previous two related volumes in the Biological Magnetic Resonance series, High-Resolution EPR: Applications to Metalloenzymes and Metals in Medicine and Metals in Biology:Applications of High-Resolution EPR to Metalloenzymes, topics covered included high-resolution EPR methods, iron proteins, nickel and copper enzymes, metals in medicine, iron-sulfur cluster-containing proteins, and molybdenum enzymes. In this volume, new developments in these areas are covered in detail and new areas that have emerged are also detailed. This is an ideal book for graduate students and researchers working in the fie lds of high-resolution EPR, metalloenzymes, and metals in biology.