Waves in Biomechanics: THz Vibrations and Modal Analysis in Proteins and Macromolecular Structures [Paperback]

Proteins and macromolecular structures represent one of the most important building blocks for a variety of biological processes. Their biological activity is performed in a dynamic fashion, hence the concepts of waves and vibrations can help to explain how proteins function. This book has the goal of highlighting the importance of wave and vibrational phenomena in the realm of proteins. It targets younger students as well as graduate researchers who work in various scientific fields and are interested in learning how mechanical vibrations affect and drive the biological activity of proteins and macromolecular structures. Great attention is given to the computational approaches dedicated to the evaluation of protein dynamics and biological behavior, and modern experimental techniques are addressed as well. The book is written in a way that non-experts in the field can grasp most of the presented subjects. However, it is also based on the most relevant and recent scientific literature,providing a rather comprehensive library for the reader eager to know more about specific topics.Preface.- Introduction.- Proteins: The Basis of Biological Mechanisms.- Protein Vibrations and Elastic Network Models.- Protein Vibrations and Conformational Changes.- Exploring Protein Vibrations Experimentally: Raman and THz-TDS.- Bibliography.- Authors' Biographies.Domenico Scaramozzino received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in Italy. He was recently awarded his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the same university, where he is now working as a Postdoctoral research fellow in Structural Mechanics. His research interests are mainly focused on Elastic Lattice Models, which are applied both in the traditional fields of Structural Engineering, e.g., for the analysis of trussed shell structures and tall buildings, as well as in the most advanced fields of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, with special focus on proteins and macromolel£i