This volume explores the various facets of planaria as a biomedical model system and discusses techniques used to study the fascinating biology of these animals. The chapters in this book are divided into two parts: Part One looks at the biodiversity of planarian species, the molecular orchestration of regeneration, ecology of planarians in their natural habitats and their history as lab models. Part Two talks about experimental protocols for studying planarians, ranging from the establishment of a planarian research colony, to RNA and DNA extraction techniques, all the way to single stem cell transplantations or metabolomics analysis. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Planarian Regeneration: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for both newcomers to the field and experts within established planarian laboratories.

This book discusses cancers and the resurgence of public interest in plant-based and herbal drugs. It also describes ways of obtaining anti-cancer drugs from plants and improving their production using biotechnological techniques. It presents methods such as cell culture, shoot and root culture, hairy root culture, purification of plant raw materials, genetic engineering, optimization of culture conditions as well as metabolic engineering with examples of successes like taxol, shikonin, ingenol mebutate and podophylotoxin. In addition, it describes the applications and limitations of large-scale production of anti-cancer compounds using biotechnological means. Lastly, it discusses future economical and eco-friendly strategies for obtaining anti-cancer compounds using biotechnology.

This book examines signal processing techniques for cognitive radios. The book is divided into three parts: Part I, is an introduction to cognitive radios and presents a history of the cognitive radio (CR), and introduce their architecture, functionalities, ideal aspects, hardware platforms, and state-of-the-art developments. Dr. Jayaweera also introduces the specific type of CR that has gained the most research attention in recent years: the CR for Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA). Part II of the book, Theoretical Foundations, guides the reader from classical to modern theories on statistical signal processing and inference. The author addresses detection and estimation theory, power spectrum estimation, classification, adaptive algorithms (machine learning), and inference and decision processes. Applications to the signal processing, inference and learning problems encountered in cognitive radios are interspersed throughout with concrete and accessible examples. Part III of the book, Signal Processing in Radios, identifies the key signal processing, inference, and learning tasks to be performed by wideband autonomous cognitive radios. The author provides signal processing solutions to each task by relating the tasks to materials covered in Part II. Specialized chapters then discuss specific signal processing algorithms required for DSA and DSS cognitive radios.

Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics describes recent fundamental advances in the experimental and theoretical study of molecular dynamics and stochastic dynamic simulations, X-ray crystallography and NMR of biomolecules, the structure of proteins and its prediction, time resolved Fourier transform IR spectroscopy of biomolecules, the computation of free energy, applications of vibrational CD of nucleic acids, and solid state NMR. Further presentations include recent advances in UV resonance Raman spectroscopy of biomolecules, semiempirical MO methods, empirical force fields, quantitative studies of the structure of proteins in water by Fourier transform IR, and density functional theory. Metal-ligand interactions, DFT treatment of organometallic and biological systems, and simulation vs. X-ray and far IR experiments are also discussed in some detail. The book provides a broad perspective of the current theoretical aspects and recent experimental findings in the field of biomolecular dynamics, revealing future research trends, especially in areas where theoreticians and experimentalists could fruitfully collaborate.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of smart biomaterials and their potential applications, a field that is developing at a very rapid pace. Because smart biomaterials are an emerging class of biomaterials that respond to small changes in external stimuli with large discontinuous changes in their physical properties, they have been designed to act as an “on–off” switch for, among others, bio separation, immunoanalysis, drug delivery technologies, gene therapy, diagnostics, bio sensors and artificial muscles. After an introduction to the topic and the history of smart biomaterials, the author gives the reader an in-depth look at the properties, mechanics, and characterization of smart biomaterials including hydrogels, particles, assemblies, surfaces, fibers and conjugates. Information on the wide range of applications for these materials follows, including drug delivery, tissue engineering, diagnostics, biosensors, bio separation and actuators. In addition, recent advances in shape memory biomaterials as active components of medical devices are also presented.