Introduction to Experimental Biophysics ─ A Laboratory Guide

A stand-alone laboratory manual for molecular biophysics, this book presents essential techniques that need to be understood by any experimentalist working with biological samples. The organization of topics follows a logical experimental progression, beginning with a DNA construct, which is amplified, mutated, or fused to another gene, expressed in bacteria, and purified as either a protein or plasmid DNA. Readers are shown how the purified protein is characterized using spectroscopy, crystallography, and lipid bilayer expression. Finally, they see how the purified plasmid DNA is expressed in mammalian cells and characterized by advanced imaging techniques and electrophysiology.

Jay L. Nadeau is an associate professor of biomedical engineering and physics at McGill University. Her research group was the first to label bacteria with quantum dots and explore the possibility of using fluorescent labels as tools for the detection of traces of extraterrestrial life. Dr. Nadeau’s research interests include nanoparticles, fluorescence imaging, and the development of instrumentation for detecting life elsewhere in the solar system.