Proteins and macromolecular structures represent one of the most important building blocks for a variety of biological processes. Their biological activity is performed in a dynamic fashion, hence the concepts of waves and vibrations can help to explain how proteins function. This book has the goal of highlighting the importance of wave and vibrational phenomena in the realm of proteins. It targets younger students as well as graduate researchers who work in various scientific fields and are interested in learning how mechanical vibrations affect and drive the biological activity of proteins and macromolecular structures. Great attention is given to the computational approaches dedicated to the evaluation of protein dynamics and biological behavior, and modern experimental techniques are addressed as well. The book is written in a way that non-experts in the field can grasp most of the presented subjects. However, it is also based on the most relevant and recent scientific literature,providing a rather comprehensive library for the reader eager to know more about specific topics.

Autorentext

Domenico Scaramozzino received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in Italy. He was recently awarded his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the same university, where he is now working as a Postdoctoral research fellow in Structural Mechanics. His research interests are mainly focused on Elastic Lattice Models, which are applied both in the traditional fields of Structural Engineering, e.g., for the analysis of trussed shell structures and tall buildings, as well as in the most advanced fields of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, with special focus on proteins and macromolecules. Related to this last topic, he was also a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology at Iowa State University during the academic year 2019-2020.Giuseppe Lacidogna received his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 1994, where he graduated cum Laude in Architecture. He is an Associate Professor in Structural Mechanics at Politecnico di Torino and achieved the National Academic Qualification as Full Professor of Structural Mechanics since 2018. He is an Officer of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc), member of the Editorial Board of several international journals, and affiliated to different scientific associations (among them AIMETA, IAFraMCoS, SEM, RILEM, and ISA). He is the author of more than 120 papers in refereed international journals, 24 book chapters, and 7 monographs. In 2018, he received a Certificate Merit Award from the European Society for Experimental Mechanics (EuraSEM), and he is in the list of "Top Italian Scientists."Alberto Carpinteri receivedhis Doctoral Degrees in Nuclear Engineering cum Laude (1976) and in Mathematics cum Laude (1981) from the University of Bologna in Italy. He is currently Chair Professor of Solid and Structural Mechanics at Politecnico di Torino (1986-), Head of the Engineering Division in the European Academy of Sciences (2016-), Honorary Professor at Tianjin University (2017-), and Zhujiang (Pearl River) Professor of Guangdong Province, Shantou University (2019-). He was the President of different Scientific Associations and Research Institutions: the International Congress on Fracture, ICF (2009-2013), the European Structural Integrity Society, ESIS (2002-2006), the International Association of Fracture Mechanics for Concrete and Concrete Structures, lA-FraMCoS (2004-2007), the Italian Group of Fracture, IGF (1998-2005), the National Research Institute of Metrology, INRIM (2011-2013). He is the author or editor of over 900 publications, of which more than 400 are papers in refereed international journals and 55 are books or journal special issues. He received numerous international Honours and Recognitions: the Robert L'Hermite Medal from RILEM (1982), the Griffith Medal from ESIS (2008), the Swedlow Memorial Lecture Award from ASTM (2011), the Inaugural Paul Paris Gold Medal from ICF (2013), the Doctorate Honoris Causa in Engineering from the Russian Academy of Sciences (2016), and the Frocht Award from SEM (2017).

Inhalt
Preface.- Introduction.- Proteins: The Basis of Biological Mechanisms.- Protein Vibrations and Elastic Network Models.- Protein Vibrations and Conformational Changes.- Exploring Protein Vibrations Experimentally: Raman and THz-TDS.- Bibliography.- Authors' Biographies.