Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins comprises a comprehensive and critical review of significant developments at the biology and chemistry interface. Compiled by leading researchers in their subject, this volume incorporates current trends and emerging areas in topics ranging from synthetic polypeptide materials and conjugates to membrane proteins and bioactive peptides implicated in various diseases and exploited for drug design. Appealing broadly to researchers in academia and industry, it will be of great benefit to any researcher wanting a succinct reference on developments in this area now and looking to the future.

The second edition of this popular title presents the most exciting approaches for engineering biologically active nanostructures. A particular stress is placed on purely artificial assemblies created to deliver a specialist biological function or mechanism. Such synthetic designs emulate naturally occurring nanoscale forms of viruses and matrices, pores and channels, but their functional properties are not necessarily those normally observed in Nature. Therefore, it is said that the forms may be same, but functions they adopt are new. The volume is structured around prominent topics of biological nanodesign with an integrated perspective of the impact nanoscale engineering has on the emerging field of synthetic biology. Nanostructured materials assembled from DNA, proteins and lipids and advances they offer for medicine are discussed. Written by a world recognised expert, this book provides an authorative guide to those working in design and development of nanomaterial research in industry and academia, from postgraduate researchers upwards.

Synthetic biology combines science and engineering in order to design, build and test novel biological functions and systems. As with any multi-disciplinary field, there is a rapidly-growing body of literature concerning synthetic biology and locating the best information or identifying the hottest topics can be time-consuming. This volume captures the expanding primary literature in the form of critical and comprehensive reviews providing the reader with an authoritative digest of the latest developments in this emerging field. Each chapter strives to highlight the most recent findings in specific sub-areas and reviews research reports that were published over the last two to three years. Leading researchers draw material from both dedicated journals and broader sources, revising traditional concepts in light of emerging discoveries while keeping up with recent progress, making this an essential reference to any library supporting this research.

The progress of today's science and technology encounters an increasing demand for finer and more efficiently performing materials with properties superior over those of current and hence ageing devices. Whether this is concerned with electronics or drug delivery, cancer diagnostics or alternative energy sources, the search for means of miniaturizing the existing materials or devising fundamentally new components with higher capacities appears to be relentless. A saving solution to this is widely proposed as the design and fabrication of nanostructures, molecular architectures with dimensions featured below 100 nm. Replicating Nature's designs faithfully reproduced over millions of years provides perhaps the most straightforward route to success. Nature offers examples of nanodefined self-assemblies in virtually all levels of biological organization. However explicit guidance to the fabrication of functional or specialist nanostructures is of paramount importance.

Nanotechnology is often referred to as building nanoscale structures from bottom up. However, while it is visually clear what is at "up" little is given and understood what is at the "bottom." This new book gives the notion of and provides rules for building nanostructures from basics - the very bottom. The main objective of this publication is to bring together contemporary approaches for designing nanostructures that employ naturally derived self-assembling motifs as synthetic platforms.

The book has been written to satisfy the demands that motivate the search for and principles that prove to help the design of novel nanostructures. The overall goal is to compile the existing understanding of rules that govern biomolecular self-assembly into a practical guide to molecular nanotechnology. It is written in the shape of a review referenced as fully as permissible within the context of biomolecular design, which forms a general trend throughout.

The volume is composed of three core chapters focusing on three prominent topics of applied nanotechnology where the role of nanodesign is predominant. The three key areas from which popular highlights can be drawn are:

-employing the genetic repository, DNA, for creating various geometric nanoscale objects and patterns
-the empirical pursuit of an artificial virus, a magic bullet in gene therapy
-designing artificial extracellular matrices for regenerative medicine

Specific applications that arise from designed nanoscale assemblies as well as fabrication and characterization techniques are of secondary importance and whenever they appear serve as progress and innovation highlights.

The book takes an unconventional approach in delivering material of this kind. It does not lead straight to applications or methods as most nanotechnology works tend to do, but instead it focuses on the initial and primary aspect of "nano" rather than on "technology." Nanodesign is unique in its own field - illustrations are essential and the cohort of brilliant bioinspired designs reported to date form a major part of the publication. In addition, key bibliographic references are covered as fully as possible. A special appendix giving a short list of leading world laboratories engaged in bioinspired nanodesign is also included.

Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins is a broad ranging title comprising comprehensive and critical reviews of significant developments at the biology and chemistry interface. Compiled by leading researchers in their subject, this volume incorporates current trends and emerging areas in topics ranging from enzymatic halogenation, unnatural amino acids in peptide and protein chemistry and detection of protein post-translational modifications by mass spectrometry. Appealing broadly to researchers in academia and industry, it will be of great benefit to any researcher wanting a succinct reference in this field and looking at the future.

Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins comprises a comprehensive and critical review of significant developments at the biology/chemistry interface. Compiled by leading researchers in their subject, this volume incorporates current trends and emerging areas for example new bioconjugates of metal complexes with peptides and derivatization of peptides for improved detection by mass spectrometry. Appealing broadly to researchers in academia and industry, it will be of great benefit to any researcher wanting a succinct reference to developments now and looking to the future.

Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research that combines science and engineering in order to design and build novel biological functions and systems. The definition of synthetic biology has been generally accepted as the engineering of biology: the synthesis of complex, biologically based (or inspired) systems, which display functions that do not exist in nature. This engineering perspective may be applied at all levels of the hierarchy of biological structures from individual molecules to whole cells, tissues and organisms. As with any multi-disciplinary field, there is an immense and rapidly-growing body of literature concerning synthetic biology, with several dedicated journals now available. However, locating the best information, or identifying the hottest topics can be time-consuming. This Specialist Periodical Report presents critical and comprehensive reviews of the recent literature in themed chapters prepared by invited authors from across the globe. The series editors are active in the field, ensuring that the most valuable information is presented in an authoritative manner.