In this fascinating book, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Konrad Bloch muses on various aspects of biochemistry, explaining the chemical basis for many biological phenomena. Drawing on his own experiences as well as on colorful anecdotes about the work of other scientists, Bloch presents a new way of looking at the world and a revealing glimpse into the ways that scientific discoveries are made and problems are solved. Bloch begins with a charming essay on why--despite the fact that peroxide had not yet been invented--there are so many blonde women in Italian Renaissance paintings. He then considers, among other topics, some important biochemical processes that were discovered because of contamination; the importance of trial and error in biochemical research; the explanation of lactose intolerance in adults and practices for avoiding it; why the choice of animal models is important for medical research (and how the author injected himself with extracts of the tubercle bacilli to study the pathology of tuberculosis); and why the exotic nine-banded armadillo has unique potential for use in many areas of medical and biological investigations. He concludes with thoughts on biochemistry's origin and future.

Synaptic transmission plays a central role in the nervous system as the mechanism that allows for chemical and electrical communication between cells and thus connects discrete elements into the functioning whole. This is a broad account of anatomical, biochemical, embryological, medical, pathological, pharmacological, and physiological studies on synaptic transmission during the hundred years beginning in 1890. During this century, the process of synaptic transmission came to be recognized not only as the most fundamental neurophysiological process, but also as a seat of pathological changes, and as the predominant site of action for drugs used to treat a wide range of psychiatric and neurological disorders. At the same time, research from these various disciplines was transformed into a new and unifying field, neuroscience. The course of these investigations reveals ingenious experiments, powerful new techniques, and imaginative insights. The author describes broadly who did what, when, where, and how (and, in cases where it is apparent, why) and uses experimental results and interpretations to display the evolutionary course to our current understanding of how nerve cells communicate: the basic principle of neural functioning. The book will be of interest to basic and clinical neuroscientists, pharmacologists, and physiologists, to historians and philosophers of the life sciences and medicine, and to their respective students.

The Who's Who of Nobel Prize Winners is a one-stop source of detailed information on the men and women who earned the Nobel Prize during the 20th century. Organized chronologically by prize, each extensive article contains in-depth information on the laureate's life and career as well as a selected list of his or her publications and biographical resources on the individual. A concise commentary explains why the laureate received the award and summarizes the individual's other important achievements. This completely updated edition also contains a history of the prize. Four indexes distinguish this title from similar biographical references and enable researchers to search by name, education, nationality or citizenship, and religion.

Presents a multi-disciplinary perspective on the physics of life and the particular role played by lipids and the lipid-bilayer component of cell membranes. Emphasizes the physical properties of lipid membranes seen as soft and molecularly structured interfaces. By combining and synthesizing insights obtained from a variety of recent studies, an attempt is made to clarify what membrane structure is and how it can be quantitatively described. Shows how biological function mediated by membranes is controlled by lipid membrane structure and organization on length scales ranging from the size of the individual molecule, across molecular assemblies of proteins and lipid domains in the range of nanometers, to the size of whole cells. Applications of lipids in nano-technology and biomedicine are also described.

The discovery of novel drugs that fill unmet medical needs is important for the health and well-being of people everywhere. However, the general public knows too little about the pathways through which basic research discoveries are translated into products that protect or restore human health. In the second edition of Hallelujah Moments, Eugene H. Cordes reveals the processes and pitfalls on the route from the laboratory bench to the bedside. These are adventure stories in which wit and grit created several of the most important drugs in human medicine. This new edition adds four new tales of drug discovery: for therapy of cancer, hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, and for weight control. The stories emphasize the integration of basic research in academe and applied research in the pharmaceutical industry and introduce the key scientists. In each case, success resulted from imagination, risk-taking, problem solving, and perseverance. Cordes shares his firsthand knowledge of the drug-discovery world, having spent a long and distinguished career in both academic and industrial settings. The eleven drug discovery tales take the reader from concept to clinic for some of the most important drugs in human health including the statins, ACE inhibitors, antibiotics, avermectins, Januvia, and Taxol. These stories offer exciting insights into the fascinating world of drug discovery.

For fans of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Alan M. Kraut's Goldberg's War tells the story of one doctor's courageous journey to cure deadly diseases and epidemics. Goldberger's War chronicles one of the U.S. Public Health Service's most renowned heroes--an immigrant Jew who trained as a doctor at Bellevue, became a young recruit to the federal government's health service, and ended an American plague. He did so by defying conventional wisdom, experimenting on humans, and telling the South precisely what it didn't want to hear. Kraut shows how Dr. Goldberger's life became, quite literally, the stuff of legends. On the front lines of the major public-health battles of the early 20th-century, he fought the epidemics that were then routinely sweeping the nation--typhoid, yellow fever, and the measles. After successfully confronting (and often contracting) the infectious diseases of his day, in 1914 he was assigned the mystery of pellagra, a disease whose cause and cure had eluded the world for centuries and was then afflicting tens of thousands of Americans every year, particularly in the emerging "New South." “Engrossing story of an American medical hero.” —The New England Journal of Medicine

An analysis of the ways in which evolution shapes human behavior and human lives draws on the field of evolutionary psychology to offer revealing glimpses of human nature and to shed new light on why humans do the things that they do.