Protein Actions: Principles and Modeling

Protein Actions: Principles and Modeling is aimed at graduates, advanced undergraduates, and any professional who seeks an introduction to the biological, chemical, and physical properties of proteins. Broadly accessible to biophysicists and biochemists, it will be particularly useful to student and professional structural biologists and molecular biophysicists, bioinformaticians and computational biologists, biological chemists (particularly drug designers) and molecular bioengineers. The book begins by introducing the basic principles of protein structure and function. Some readers will be familiar with aspects of this, but the authors build up a more quantitative approach than their competitors. Emphasizing concepts and theory rather than experimental techniques, the book shows how proteins can be analyzed using the disciplines of elementary statistical mechanics, energetics, and kinetics. These chapters illuminate how proteins attain biologically active states and the properties of those states. The book ends with a synopsis the roles of computational biology and bioinformatics in protein science.

Table of Contents:
1. Proteins are Polymers that Fold into Specific Structures 2. Proteins Perform Cellular Functions 3. Proteins Have Stable Equilibrium Conformations 4. Protein Binding Leads to Biological Actions 5. Folding and Aggregation Are Cooperative Transitions 6. The Principles of Protein Folding Kinetics 7. Proteins Evolve 8. Bioinformatics: Insights from Protein Sequences 9. Protein Geometries and Energetics 10. Molecular Simulations and Conformational Sampling 11. Predicting Protein Structures from Sequences 12. Biological Actions Arise from Protein Motions 13. Molecular Modeling for Drug Discovery

About the Author :
Ken Dill, Robert L. Jernigan, Ivet Bahar

Review :
2018 APA Prose Award Winner "Best Textbook in Biological & Life Sciences" "Protein Actions:Principles & Modeling is a premier textbook for covering computational analysis of protein structure and folding." —Douglas D. Root, University of North Texas "I recommend this textbook to any graduate student who is considering a career in protein science or proteomics. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book cover to cover…. The book fully survived my not-always gentle handling while reading it in a coffee shop, mall, moving car (not while driving, mind you!), even at a dinner table. This is more than I can say about another textbook (to be kept anonymous), which fell apart leaf by leaf by the end of the quarter-term course. —Garland Science – Journal of Biological Physics (Dec 2017), review by B Urbanc, Drexel University "Protein Actions elegantly builds upon the basics of protein structure and function and effortlessly works its way toward an engaging and accessible narrative of timely topics such as disordered proteins, kinetic phenomena and simulation tools. This quantitative picture of protein science, crafted by distinguished authors, will enrich a generation of aspiring scientists." —A/Prof. Steve Pressé, Arizona State University "This very well composed and beautifully illustrated book about the physical principles of protein structure, dynamics and function was written by scientists who have contributed much to our understanding of these topics. The book also weaves in perspectives on evolution, bioinformatics, structure modeling and practical applications, providing an excellent integrated text for graduate level instruction." —Andrej Šali, Associate Dean and Professor of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco "the excellent visuals beautifully and clearly convey the concepts at hand" —Prof. Karen Fleming, TC Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University "an outstanding book for those wanting an easily approachable, readable, and understandable description of the physical properties of protein molecules and how to model them. By far, it is the best book that I have encountered on these topics, and it will be of tremendous utility both in the classroom and as a reference…. It is remarkably clear and addresses topics that many students find to be quite foreign, breaking them into digestible pieces. I wish it would have been around when I was a student!" —Angela K. Wilson, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University "An outstanding textbook for students and professionals on protein biophysics, which builds from the most fundamental basics to advanced topics. It covers a range of subjects including protein folding, conformational dynamics, relationship between structure, dynamics and functions in living cells, pathologies associated with protein misfolding and aggregation, and protein evolution. The book is written by the leaders in the field, who have made many fundamental contributions to protein biophysics." —Nikolay V. Dokholyan, Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "Bahar, Jernigan and Dill produced an exceptional and much-needed text book that explains important biophysical/bioinformatics principles required to understand proteins in action. I strongly recommend this book for every graduate student to read, and have as a reference." —Professor Thomas Huber, Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University 2018 APA Prose Award Winner "Best Textbook in Biological & Life Sciences" "Protein Actions:Principles & Modeling is a premier textbook for covering computational analysis of protein structure and folding." —Douglas D. Root, University of North Texas "I recommend this textbook to any graduate student who is considering a career in protein science or proteomics. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book cover to cover…. The book fully survived my not-always gentle handling while reading it in a coffee shop, mall, moving car (not while driving, mind you!), even at a dinner table. This is more than I can say about another textbook (to be kept anonymous), which fell apart leaf by leaf by the end of the quarter-term course. —Garland Science – Journal of Biological Physics (Dec 2017), review by B Urbanc, Drexel University "Protein Actions elegantly builds upon the basics of protein structure and function and effortlessly works its way toward an engaging and accessible narrative of timely topics such as disordered proteins, kinetic phenomena and simulation tools. This quantitative picture of protein science, crafted by distinguished authors, will enrich a generation of aspiring scientists." —A/Prof. Steve Pressé, Arizona State University "This very well composed and beautifully illustrated book about the physical principles of protein structure, dynamics and function was written by scientists who have contributed much to our understanding of these topics. The book also weaves in perspectives on evolution, bioinformatics, structure modeling and practical applications, providing an excellent integrated text for graduate level instruction." —Andrej Šali, Associate Dean and Professor of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco "the excellent visuals beautifully and clearly convey the concepts at hand" —Prof. Karen Fleming, TC Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University "an outstanding book for those wanting an easily approachable, readable, and understandable description of the physical properties of protein molecules and how to model them. By far, it is the best book that I have encountered on these topics, and it will be of tremendous utility both in the classroom and as a reference…. It is remarkably clear and addresses topics that many students find to be quite foreign, breaking them into digestible pieces. I wish it would have been around when I was a student!" —Angela K. Wilson, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University "An outstanding textbook for students and professionals on protein biophysics, which builds from the most fundamental basics to advanced topics. It covers a range of subjects including protein folding, conformational dynamics, relationship between structure, dynamics and functions in living cells, pathologies associated with protein misfolding and aggregation, and protein evolution. The book is written by the leaders in the field, who have made many fundamental contributions to protein biophysics." —Nikolay V. Dokholyan, Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "Bahar, Jernigan and Dill produced an exceptional and much-needed text book that explains important biophysical/bioinformatics principles required to understand proteins in action. I strongly recommend this book for every graduate student to read, and have as a reference." —Professor Thomas Huber, Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University "What makes Protein Actions: Principles and Modeling an outstanding textbook on proteins is its rigorous approach and balanced presentation of funda-mental and advanced aspects of protein science. In 13 chapters and slightly over 300 pages, the authors tackle with great mastery the basic foundations of pro-tein science, detailing concepts and principles in clear and direct language, supported by insightful high-quality graphics, rightfully considered by the authors as the centerpiece of the book." Cláudio M. Gomes, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal