Since the early times of the Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus, and later of the Roman philosopher Lucretius, a simple, fundamental idea emerged that brought the life sciences into the realm of the physical sciences. Atoms, after various interactions, were assumed to acquire stable configurations that corresponded either to the living or to the inanimate world. This simple and unitary theory, which has evolved in successive steps to our present time, remarkably maintained its validity despite several centuries of alternative vicissitudes, and is the foundation of modern biophysics. Some of the recent developments of this ancient idea are the discovery of the direct relationship between spatial structures and chemical activity of such molecules as methane and benzene, and the later discovery of the three-dimensional structure of double-helical DNA, and of its relationship with biological activity. The relationship between the structure of various macromolecules and the function of living cells was one of the most striking advancements of modern science, obtained by the cooperation of physicists, chemists, mathematicians, engineers, biologists, and physicians. This crossing of the life and physical sciences has given rise to new and exciting frontiers, and to a new synthesis where there is a frequent interconnection of expertise, and where there is an exchange of roles among traditionally separated soft and hard sciences. Even if knowledge is still transmitted to new generations within univer sities as separate disciplines, new knowledge is acquired today in the laboratory by truly interdisciplinary teams.

Inhalt

1. Normal Cells and Cancer Cells: Macromolecular Structures and Cellular Functions.- 1.1. Background.- 1.2. Native Chromatin-DNA Structure.- 1.3. Nuclear Structure.- 1.4. What Is a Gene?.- 1.5. Ribosomes.- 1.6. Modification in the Control of Cell Proliferation.- 1.7. Modifications in the Control of Cell Differentiation.- 1.8. Modifications in the Control of Cell Transformation.- 1.9. Modifications in the Control of Cellular Aging.- 1.10. Membranes.- 1.11. Cytoskeleton.- 1.12. Control Mechanisms for Normal versus Abnormal Cell Growth.- 1.13. Molecular Mechanisms and Models for Gene Expression.- 1.14. Conclusions and Future Trends.- 2. Cancer Cause and Prevention.- 2.1. Background.- 2.2. Possible Causes of Cancer.- 2.3. Cancer Prevention.- 3. Cancer Detection and Treatment.- 3.1. Background.- 3.2. Present Status of Human Cancer Detection and Treatment.- 3.3. Alternative Analytical Approaches.- 3.4. New Observables.- 3.5. Theoretical Simulation at the Cellular Level: Optimized Drug Metabolism Parameters in Animals.- 3.6. Treatment Optimization in Animals.- 3.7. Drug Interaction and Molecular Perturbation in Animals.- 3.8. Extrapolation to Human Cancer.- 4. Experimental Probes.- 4.1. Background.- 4.2. Preparative Tools.- 4.3. Probes for Lower-Order Structures.- 4.4. Probes for Higher-Order Structures in Situ.- 5. Theoretical Probes.- 5.1. Background.- 5.2. Enzyme Kinetics.- 5.3. Signal Processing and Analysis.- 5.4. Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Cell Structures.- 5.5. Polyelectrolyte Theory of Interactions among Biopolymers.- 5.6. Physicochemical Model for Dye-Nucleic Acid Interaction in Situ.- 5.7. Electromagnetic Theory of Polarized Light Scattering by Large Biopolymers.- 5.8. Random Walk Model of Biopolymers.- 5.9. Mean Field Theory of Gel Biopolymers.- Epilogue: A Final Comment.- Problems.- References.