A tribute to Fritz-Albert Popp on the occasion of his 70th birthday

On May 11, 2008 the German biophysicist Professor Fritz-Albert Popp will celebrate his 70th birthday. This is a welcome occasion to pay tribute to the scientific achievements and human qualities of a scientist whose merits as one of the founders of biophotonics and as a pioneer of quantum biophysics increasingly find appreciation internationally.     

Growing momentum in the molecular study of ion channels.

Long the sole domain of physiologists and electrical engineers, ion channel biophysics is going molecular, and with a vengeance. This summary of a recent meeting devoted to ion channel biophysics shows that the integration of techniques, reinforced by active communication among scientists of diverse backgrounds, is extremely potent.     

Cell molecular computer. VII. Cell biophysics and realistic or information physics (1)]

Living organisms measure many parameters in order to have orientation in the outer medium. That is why biophysics cannot use the ordinary laws of physics and must take into account the influence on the phenomena to be studied not only of a measurement but also of a calculation process in the real physical and biophysical device predicting the future. Science taking into account the effects of the calculating process-realistical or informative (RI) physics-has different (laws) for different times, distances and numbers of measuring and predicting parameters. RI-physics deals with unreproducible events and considers only such time intervals and distances for which the prediction can be made on the basis of earlier measurements and calculations according to the laws with optimal difficulty. It is suggested that the living cell uses the laws which are close to these optimal (limiting) laws of RI-physics. Physics and quantum mechanics can be considered as a limiting case of RI-physics. In this case values of distances and times are large enough and the number of simultaneously measured independent parameters is such that the heat effect of the calculating device would become negligible. Molecular cell computer (MCC) [I] cannot calculate the interaction of a great quantity of different molecules, using the equations of quantum mechanics because the expense of the (price of action) would be very large and both MCC and the surrounding world could change.     

Successes in medical biophysics (on the 40th anniversary of the Medico-biological faculty of the Russian State Medical University)

On the occasion of the 40-year anniversary of the Medicobiological Faculty of the Russian State Medical University, the research activity of the biophysics department was summed up. The main result is the creation of medical biophysics as part of the medicobiological science. Scientific investigations of the biophysics department are reviewed. They are presented as follows: chemiluminescence of biological systems; effect of visible light on human and animal molecules and cells; application of luminescence methods in laboratory and clinical investigations; free radicals and their role in cell biology and pathology; medical aspects of molecular biophysics; and biological membranes and cell pathology.     

我国生物物理学的奠基与交叉学科的建立

20世纪50年代上半叶,生物物理学作为一门新的独立学科应运而生.1958年,以中国科学院生物物理研究所的成立为主要标志,开始了我国生物物理学的发展历程.本文将介绍我国生物物理学科的奠基与前期发展,以及放射生物学、生物控制论、宇宙生物学和仿生学等交叉学科的建立过程.     

On the requirement of minimum number of four versus eight quanta of light for the evolution of one molecule of oxygen in photosynthesis: A historical note

A bitter controversy had existed as to the minimum number of quanta required for the evolution of one molecule of oxygen in photosynthesis: Otto Warburg had insisted since 1923 that this value was 3–4, whereas Robert Emerson and others continued to obtain a value of 8–12 since the 1940s. It is shown in this letter that the 1931 Nobel-laureate of Physiology & Medicine Otto Warburg published, in his last and final paper, just before his death in 1970, a measured minimum quantum requirement of oxygen evolution of 12 at the lowest intensities of light he used. Although using his theory on photolyte, Warburg calculated a value of 3–4 for the quantum requirement, this is the first confirmation by Warburg of the higher measured quantum requirement. However, it has remained unknown to most investigators. It is expected that this information will be of general interest not only to those interested in the history and research on photosynthesis, but to the entire sci entific community, especially the writers of text books in biology, biochemistry and biophysics.     

Q & A. [interview

George Oster is Professor of Biophysics, University of California, Berkeley. He received his B.S. at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and his Ph.D. at Columbia University. He began his career in biophysics as a postdoc at the Weizmann Institute under Aharon Katchalsky, where his research involved membrane biophysics and irreversible thermodynamics. His concern for environmental issues led him into population biology, which shaded into evolutionary biology and thence to developmental biology, cell biology and, most recently, protein motors and bacterial motility and pattern formation. His tools are mathematics, physics and computer simulation. He is currently a faculty member in the Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the College of Natural Resources at Berkeley.     

Program review. The Interdisciplinary Biophysics Graduate Program at the University of Michigan

The Michigan Biophysics Graduate Program (MBGP) was established in 1949, making it one of the first such programs in the world. The intellectual base of the program was significantly broadened in the 1980 when faculty members from a number of other units on campus were invited to join. Currently over forty faculty members from a variety of disciplines participate as mentors for the Ph.D. students enrolled in the MBGP providing our students with rich opportunities for academic learning and research. The MBGP has two main objectives: 1) to provide graduate students with both the intellectual and technical training in modern biophysics, 2) to sensitize our students to the power and unique opportunities of interdisciplinary work and thinking so as to train them to conduct research that crosses the boundaries between the biological and physical sciences. The program offers students opportunities to conduct research in a variety of areas of contemporary biophysics including structural biology, single molecule spectroscopy, spectroscopy and its applications, computational biology, membrane biophysics, neurobiophysics and enzymology. The MBGP offers a balanced curriculum that aims to provide our students with a strong academic base and, at the same time, accommodate their different academic backgrounds. Judging its past performance through the success of its former students, the MBGP has been highly successful, and there is every reason to believe that strong training in the biophysical sciences, as provided by the MBGP, will become even more valuable in the future both in the academic and the industrial settings. in the academic and the industrial settings.     

Program review. Challenges and opportunities for training the next generation of biophysicists: perspectives of the directors of the Molecular Biophysics Training Program at Northwestern University

Molecular biophysics is a broad, diverse, and dynamic field that has presented a variety of unique challenges and opportunities for training future generations of investigators. Having been or currently being intimately associated with the Molecular Biophysics Training Program at Northwestern, we present our perspectives on various issues that we have encountered over the years. We propose no cookie-cutter solutions, as there is no consensus on what constitutes the "ideal" program. However, there is uniformity in opinion on some key issues that might be useful to those interested in establishing a biophysics training program.     

Calculations of protein circular dichroism from first principles

Understanding the relationship between the amino acid sequence of a protein and its unique, compact 3D structure is one of the grand challenges in molecular biophysics. One particularly exciting approach is time-resolved electronic circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, which offers resolution on a nanosecond (or faster) time scale, although it does not provide the spatial resolution of techniques like X-ray crystallography or NMR. The thrust of our work is to underpin fast time scale spectroscopic studies of protein folding with a stronger theoretical foundation. Ultimately, we seek to use molecular dynamics simulations to study the influence of conformational dynamics and conformational transitions on the electronic CD spectra of proteins. We discuss how improved quantum chemical models of individual chromophores, including aromatic sidechains, can be incorporated into calculations of the electronic structure of proteins and their CD.     

First-principles calculations of protein circular dichroism in the far-ultraviolet and beyond

Understanding the relationship between the amino acid sequence of a protein and its unique, compact three-dimensional structure is one of the grand challenges in molecular biophysics. One exciting approach to the protein-folding problem is fast time-resolved spectroscopy in the ultra-violet (UV). Time-resolved electronic circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy offers resolution on a nanosecond (or faster) timescale, but does not provide the spatial resolution of techniques like X-ray crystallography or NMR. There is a need to underpin fast timescale spectroscopic studies of protein folding with a stronger theoretical foundation. We review some recent studies in this regard and briefly highlight how modern quantum chemical models of aromatic groups have improved the accuracy of calculations of protein CD spectra near-UV. On the other side of the far-UV, we describe calculations indicating that charge-transfer transitions are likely to be responsible for bands observed in the vacuum UV in protein CD.     

Institute of Biochemistry and the development of molecular biophyics in the Ukraine

The development of molecular biophysics research in Ukraine is reviewed with historical perspective. Vladimir Belitser and his school were among the pioneers in the studies of protein denaturation and assembly of intermolecular structures. New methods of research of protein conformational transitions and dynamics at equilibrium have been developed at the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry. Presently, the biophysics aspects in different areas of protein research are actively explored. The studies of protein folding in both experimental and theoretical aspects promise especially good prospects.     

医药类高等院校生物物理课程建设的思考

医用生物物理学是研究生命物质的物理性质,生命过程的物理和物理化学规律以及物理因素对生物系统作用机制的科学,是物理学和生物学相结合而产生的一门边缘学科。在促进物理学和生命科学进步方面都显现出强大的生命力和推动力。基于医用生物物理学发展和我校学科建设发展的现实需要,本文讨论了我校建设医用生物物理学必修课或者选修课的必要性,并从本课程和学校学生特点两个方面考虑,对该课程建设的内容进行了初步的整合。旨在对教学内容进行整合、优化,增加一些新概念、新知识及前沿动态,把新旧知识联系到了一起,教会学生如何应用基础知识解决问题的方法以及缓解目前学时少、内容多这一矛盾。     

Festschrift in the Honor of Stephen H. White��s 70th Birthday

The Symposium 'Frontiers in membrane and membrane protein biophysics: experiments and theory', held this year at the University of California, Irvine (August 19-20), celebrated the 70th Birthday of Stephen H. White by bringing together distinguished experimentalists and theoreticians to discuss the state of the art and future challenges in the field of membrane and membrane protein biophysics. The meeting and this special issue highlight the highly interdisciplinary nature of membrane and membrane protein biophysics, and the tremendous contributions that S. H. White and his lab have brought to the field.     

Life sciences require the third dimension

Novel technologies are required for three-dimensional cell biology and biophysics. By three-dimensional we refer to experimental conditions that essentially try to avoid hard and flat surfaces and favour unconstrained sample dynamics. We believe that light-sheet-based microscopes are particularly well suited to studies of sensitive three-dimensional biological systems. The application of such instruments can be illustrated with examples from the biophysics of microtubule dynamics and three-dimensional cell cultures. Our experience leads us to suggest that three-dimensional approaches reveal new aspects of a system and enable experiments to be performed in a more physiological and hence clinically more relevant context.     

Molecular properties in cell adhesion: a physical and engineering perspective.

The past several years have seen accelerating growth in research directed towards the understanding and control of cell adhesion processes, from a spectrum of disciplinary approaches including molecular cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics and bioengineering. Consequently, our understanding of the mechanisms involved in cell adhesion has increased substantially. Corresponding quantitative analysis and modeling of the key molecular properties governing their action in regulating dynamic cell attachment and detachment events is crucial for advancing conceptual insight along with technological applications.     

细胞生物物理学研究的概况及展望

概括介绍了近几年来细胞生物物理学在细胞的精细结构研究、外界物理因素对细胞作用的研究、细胞运动的研究、细胞膜的离子通道、细胞的信号传递以及在研究方法等方面所取得的部分进展,并就如何实现细胞生物物理学的研究目标提出了自己的看法.     

The beginnings of research on biophysics of photosynthesis and initial contributions made by Russian scientists to its development

In contrast to the classical sciences, biophysics is difficult to define. For example, Roderick Clayton suggested that biophysics requires 'solid grounding in physics, chemistry and mathematics together with enough biology and biochemistry' [Clayton RK (1988) Photosynth Res 19: 207-224]. One may see from the proceedings of the recent biophysical congresses that their materials and ideas in a very wide sense are biological, including global geographic and ecological problems. To be recognized as biophysical, either physico-chemical methods or at least some mathematical and computer programs are usually involved in such work. One exception is the biophysics of photosynthesis, which deals with fundamental photophysical processes: the absorption of solar radiation by chlorophylls (Chls) and accessory pigments. The subsequent intermolecular transfer of singlet electronic excitation results in a primary energy conversion manifested as pairs of opposite electric charges separated in the pigment-protein complexes called reaction centers [see Clayton RK (2002) Photosynth Res 73: 63-71]. I review the initial, basic contributions in this field, and the most important accomplishments of Russian scientists in the 20th century.     

The estimation of low-dose hazards by extrapolation from high doses.

Empirical information on the effects of low doses of ionizing radiation is beset by severe limitations. Theoretical considerations of biophysics can guide the analysis of epidemiological data by indicating certain dose-response relations or eliminating others. Thus, it can be shown that at low doses there must be proportionality between dose and effect on non-interacting cells and that one must anticipate different dose-effect relations upon exposure to markedly different types of radiation.     

On the origin of life

On the basis of the recently proposed new fundamental equation of mathematical biophysics, a suggestion is made for a theory of the formation of a primitive cell from nonliving material. The discussion includes a suggestion for a quantitative formulation of the degree of biological organization. It is shown that according to the fundamental equation of mathematical biophysics, organization of the nonliving material may spontaneously increase under certain conditions, leading to a formation of a primitive organism. This process however, is a very slow one, requiring time intervals of several years or even decades. This may account for the failure in observing or artificially producing spontaneous generation.