Bionanodesign : Old Forms for New Functions

This new edition highlights contemporary approaches for designing nanostructures that employ naturally derived self-assembling motifs as synthetic platforms.

The second edition of this popular title presents the most exciting approaches for engineering biologically active nanostructures. A particular stress is placed on purely artificial assemblies created to deliver a specialist biological function or mechanism. Such synthetic designs emulate naturally occurring nanoscale forms of viruses and matrices, pores and channels, but their functional properties are not necessarily those normally observed in Nature. Therefore, it is said that the forms may be same, but functions they adopt are new. The volume is structured around prominent topics of biological nanodesign with an integrated perspective of the impact nanoscale engineering has on the emerging field of synthetic biology. Nanostructured materials assembled from DNA, proteins and lipids and advances they offer for medicine are discussed. Written by a world recognised expert, this book provides an authorative guide to those working in design and development of nanomaterial research in industry and academia, from postgraduate researchers upwards.