Photonics of Biopolymers: Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering

1 Introduction to Photonics.- 2 Light Absorption in Ordered Structures.- 3 Screening Hypochromism.- 4 Photometric Estimation of Protein Content in Biological Suspensions.- 5 Screening and Reabsorption of Light.- 6 Multipass Cuvettes for Luminescence Spectroscopy.- 7 Division of Tyrosine and Tryptophan Fluorescence Components.- 8 Spectral Heterogeneity of Tryptophan Emission.- 9 Discrete Emission States in Photoexcited Tryptophan Complexes.- 10 Mechanisms of Exciplex Formation.- 11 Mechanisms of Energy Transfer.- 12 Energy Transfer in Nucleic Acids.- 13 Energy Transfer in Native Proteins.- 14 Energy Transfer in Biomembranes.- 15 Fluorescence Probes.- 16 Pyrene Monomers and Excimers in Membranes.- 17 Photomodulation of Enzyme Activity.- 18 Photoactivation of Animal Membranes and their Chromophores.- 19 Light-Dependent Phosphorylation in Mitochondria.- References.

From the reviews:
…it is pleasing to see that this book dealing with the interaction of light with bipolymers has a timely appearance…Undoubtedly, the book will be useful for those who want to apply optical spectroscopic techniques to investigate the structural and functional properties of biological macromolecular systems.
--The Physicist
"It is pleasing to see that this book dealing with the interaction of light with biopolymers has a timely appearance. … After absorption of photons by a biopolymer a number of phenomena are expected to occur … . Nikolai Vekshin has made a contemplative attempt to address some of these problems. He has presented and analysed … by using appropriate physical models. … Undoubtedly, the book will be useful for those who want to apply optical spectroscopic techniques to investigate the … biological macromolecular systems." (Mukunda Das, The Physicist, Vol. 40 (2), 2003)

Photonics of biopolymers discusses the processes of energy transformation in photoexcited proteins, nucleic acids, membranes and model systems. The author addresses, among other topics: Light absorption, screening and reabsorption; photometric studies of protein; energy transfer mechanics; fluorescent probes; photomodulation of enzymes, and photoactiviation. Much of the information stems from the authors own wide experience in the field.

This work will stimulate further understanding of light interactions with biomolecules and will encourage other scientists to enter the field" (Prof. S. Schulman, University of Florida) Photonics of Biopolymers is an outstanding book" (Prof. J. Fidy, Institute of Biophysics, Hungary)