Cross, R. A. (2008) Single molecule for the people. Nature Cell Biology, Vol.10 (No.9). p. 1014. ISSN 1465-7392

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

I don't believe I have ever before read a microscopy textbook from cover to cover — but this one, reader, I did. Its two editors, Taekjip Ha and Paul Selvin, have set out to assemble a manual for cell biologists who want to extend their technical repertoires to include single-molecule techniques. They have succeeded admirably, and as a bonus the book provides a fascinating insight into where the technical limits lie, of how we stand — as the authors suggest in their introduction — at the beginning of a new era of single-molecule-based cell biology. If molecular cell biology had an agenda, then near the top of the list would be the need to understand how the biology of cells arises out of the properties and behaviours of individual molecules. Single molecules still hold considerable mystery. For the most part, the world of our everyday experience comprises multimolecule phenomena, and the familiar language of cell biology is adapted to describe these phenomena. As we zoom in to the single-molecule level, unfamiliar things start to happen. Events become stochastic. Structures become probabilistic distributions of different structures. Everything jiggles about, so that even the idea of a given object being in a particular fixed position needs careful consideration and qualification.

Item Type:	Book Review
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Biomedical Cell Biology Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Journal or Publication Title:	Nature Cell Biology
Publisher:	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
ISSN:	1465-7392
Book Title:	Single-Molecule Techniques
Date:	September 2008
Volume:	Vol.10
Number:	No.9
Page Range:	p. 1014
Identification Number:	10.1038/ncb0908-1014
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/48884

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item