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.

Protein-Protein Interactions in Human Disease, Volume 111, Part B, promotes further research and development in the protein interaction network in order to identify critical proteins involved in the etiology of human diseases and locate new protein targets for drug development. Thus, this volume is of considerable interest to protein chemists, pharmacologists, cell biologists, immunologists, structural biologists, computational biochemists and other researchers working in the field. In addition, these articles would be of great benefit to medical, biology and pharmacology students who specialize in this field.

This book is a "world first," since the furfural industry has been traditionally secretive to the point of appearing shrouded in clouds of mystery. Even renowned encyclopedic works have published but scant and often erroneous information on the subject.
Striking a healthy balance between theory and practice, the book leads the reader from reaction mechanisms and kinetics to the technology of making furfural by various old and new processes, using conventional raw materials or sulfite waste liquor. Detailed discussions of means of increasing the yield are of great chemical and technological interest as well as of immense economic importance.
From furfural proper, the treatise shifts to the fascinating field of wanted and unwanted by-products ranging from largely unutilized carboxylic acids to troublesome impurities such as 5-methyl furfural and 2-furyl methyl ketone, and then to extremely valuable serendipitous flavor compounds such as diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione. A wide variety of derivatives are discussed; considerable space is devoted to polytetrahydrofuran, an important building block of stretchable synthetic fibers, while furan resins from both furfural and furfuryl alcohol are given the attention commensurate with their industrial importance.
Notable supplementary chapters cover the in-line measurement of furfural, the treatment of furfural waste water, and various aspects of corrosion. A chapter on the applications of furfural elaborates not only traditional uses in extracting petroleum and vegetable oils but also the sensational discovery that furfural is a highly effective "indirect nematocide." Without becoming toxic, it changes the microflora of the soil by stimulating bacteria antagonistic to nematodes, thereby reducing the nematode population to zero, at an unprecedented low price. It is believed that this application will be the principal outlet for furfural in the future.
A comprehensive list of physical properties, some never published before, make the book an indispensable companion for producers, users and researchers alike.

This volume explores the latest methods used to study AMPK by computational, biochemical, biophysical, cellular, and ex vivo and in vivo approaches. The chapters in this book cover specific topics, such as methods to measure change in cellular energy metabolism and analyze metabolic pathways regulated by AMPK; bioinformatics tools to identify AMPK targets; knockdown of AMPK by CRISPR-Cas9; production and crystallization of full-length human AMP-activated protein kinase; cell-free assays to measure the effects of regulatory ligands on AMPK; use of sensors of AMPK activity; AMPK protein interaction by yeast two-hybrid; the role of AMPK in inflammation and autophagy; analyzing the AMPK function in C. elegans and mammals (with special focus on skeletal muscle, blood vessels, kidneys, pancreatic islets and hypothalamus); and human 2 AMPK mutations. 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 thorough, AMPK: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and established investigators who are interested in the richly diverse AMPK field.

This book focuses on the regulation of transcription and translation in Archaea and arising insights into the evolution of RNA processing pathways. From synthesis to degradation and the implications of gene expression, it presents the current state of knowledge on archaeal RNA biology in 13 chapters. Topics covered include the modification and maturation of RNAs, the function of small non-coding RNAs and the CRISPR-Cas defense system. While Archaea have long been considered exotic microbial extremophiles, they are now increasingly being recognized as important model microorganisms for the study of molecular mechanisms conserved across the three domains of life, and with regard to the relevance of similarities and differences to eukaryotes and bacteria. This unique book offers a valuable resource for all readers interested in the regulation of gene expression in Archaea and RNA metabolism in general.

Immunoassay techniques have become essential in various fields of pure and applied research. This volume of the well known "Laboratory Techniques" series will be of assistance to those who have plans or are making efforts to develop ultrasensitive enzyme immunoassays for antigens and antibodies.
The volume describes factors limiting the sensitivity of noncompetitive solid phase enzyme immunoassays, methods to overcome difficulties limiting sensitivities, methods to perform ultrasensitive enzyme immunoassays as rapidly as possible, and protocols of enzyme labeling and enzyme assays as well as ultrasensitive enzyme immunoassays.
"Ultrasensitive and Rapid Enzyme Immunoassay, " with its clear presentation and up-to-date information, will be essential to scientists in pharmaceutical companies and in applied research.

This monograph presents recent advances in neural network (NN) approaches and applications to chemical reaction dynamics. Topics covered include: (i) the development of ab initio potential-energy surfaces (PES) for complex multichannel systems using modified novelty sampling and feedforward NNs; (ii) methods for sampling the configuration space of critical importance, such as trajectory and novelty sampling methods and gradient fitting methods; (iii) parametrization of interatomic potential functions using a genetic algorithm accelerated with a NN; (iv) parametrization of analytic interatomic potential functions using NNs; (v) self-starting methods for obtaining analytic PES from ab inito electronic structure calculations using direct dynamics; (vi) development of a novel method, namely, combined function derivative approximation (CFDA) for simultaneous fitting of a PES and its corresponding force fields using feedforward neural networks; (vii) development of generalized PES using many-body expansions, NNs, and moiety energy approximations; (viii) NN methods for data analysis, reaction probabilities, and statistical error reduction in chemical reaction dynamics; (ix) accurate prediction of higher-level electronic structure energies (e.g. MP4 or higher) for large databases using NNs, lower-level (Hartree-Fock) energies, and small subsets of the higher-energy database; and finally (x) illustrative examples of NN applications to chemical reaction dynamics of increasing complexity starting from simple near equilibrium structures (vibrational state studies) to more complex non-adiabatic reactions.
The monograph is prepared by an interdisciplinary group of researchers working as a team for nearly two decades at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK with expertise in gas phase reaction dynamics; neural networks; various aspects of MD and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of nanometric cutting, tribology, and material properties at nanoscale; scaling laws from atomistic to continuum; and neural networks applications to chemical reaction dynamics. It is anticipated that this emerging field of NN in chemical reaction dynamics will play an increasingly important role in MD, MC, and quantum mechanical studies in the years to come.

This volume explores three main aspects of nitric oxide (NO) research: NO treatment and detection, NO modifications, and NO detoxification. The book also covers methods used to study human/animal and plant nitric oxide. The chapters are divided into three parts: part one looks at NO treatments using gaseous nitric oxide and detection using a NO-sensitive electrode, electron spin resonance, and fluorescence-based NO-sensor proteins. Part two talks about various techniques used to detect and identify NO-dependent modifications, such as biotin-switch assay and quantification of s-nitrosated proteins. Part three focuses on the study of s-nitrosothiol homeostasis and denitrosation activities. 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 authoritative, Nitric Oxide: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about this evolving field.

Marine enzymes and specialized metabolism - Part B, Volume 605 in the Methods in Enzymology series, highlights experimental methods on diverse marine enzymes involved in the construction of bioactive natural product molecules. Unique sections in this new release include discussions on polysaccharide-degrading enzymes from marine gastropods, radical SAM epimerases from sponge microbes, DMS/P demethylase in bacteria, reconstitution of particulate methane monooxygenase into membrane mimetics, the structure and function of cyanobactin enzymes, marine cyanobacterial polyketide beta-branching enzymology, marine cyanobacterial PKS-NRPS enzymology and structural biology, biochemical profiling of DMSP lyases, and more.

Thyroid hormone, Volume 106, the latest release in the Vitamins and Hormones series first published in 1943 provides up-to-date information on crystal structures and basic structural studies on neurotrophins and their receptors, neurotrophin functions and the biological actions of neurotrophins related to clinical conditions and disease. This new release focuses on timely topics, including the Nuclear Import and Export of the Thyroid Hormone Receptor, the Thyroid hormone and the white matter of the central nervous system: from development to repair, Thyroid hormone and astrocyte differentiation, and the Molecular Basis of Nongenomic Actions of Thyroid Hormone, amongst other topics.

Advances in Clinical Chemistry, Volume 85, 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.

Nitric Oxide and Other Small Signalling Molecules, Volume 72, the latest release in the Advances in Microbial Physiology series, continues the long tradition of topical, important, cutting-edge reviews in microbiology. The book contains updates in the field, with comprehensive chapters covering the Biochemistry of cysteine persulfides, NO signaling in yeast, The Inflammasome: Regulation of Nitric Oxide and Antimicrobial Host Defense, Nitric Oxide, aN Old molecule with NOble functions in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biology, the Emerging roles of nitric oxide synthase in bacterial physiology, and Anaerobic bacterial response to nitrosative stress.

Ovarian Cycle, Volume 107, the latest in the Vitamins and Hormones series first published in 1943, and the longest-running serial published by Academic Press, covers the latest updates on hormone action, vitamin action, X-ray crystal structure, physiology and enzyme mechanisms. This latest release includes an overview of the ovarian cycle, a section on ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, information on androgens and ovarian follicular maturation, information on peptide inhibitors of human thymidylate synthase to inhibit ovarian cancer cell growth, sections on nodal and luteolysis, neurokinins, dynorphin and pulsatile Lh secretion, Lh receptor expression by Mir12, and gonadotrophin-surge attenuating factor, melatonin and Bmp-6 regulation, amongst other topics.

The Evolution of Molecular Biology: The Search for the Secrets of Life provides the historical knowledge behind techniques founded in molecular biology, also presenting an appreciation of how, and by whom, these discoveries were made. It deals with the evolution of intellectual concepts in the context of active research in an approachable language that accommodates readers from a variety of backgrounds. Each chapter contains a prologue and epilogue to create continuity and provide a complete framework of molecular biology. This foundational work also functions as a historical and conceptual supplement to many related courses in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, genetics and history of science. In addition, the book demonstrates how the roots of discovery and advances-and an individual's own research-have grown out of the history of the field, presenting a more complete understanding and context for scientific discovery.