Leake, Mark C orcid.org/0000-0002-1715-1249 (2013) The physics of life:one molecule at a time. Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society Of London Series B - Biological Sciences. pp. 2012-0248. ISSN 1471-2970
Abstract
The esteemed physicist Erwin Schrödinger, whose name is associated with the most notorious equation of quantum mechanics, also wrote a brief essay entitled 'What is Life?', asking: 'How can the events in space and time which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?' The 60+ years following this seminal work have seen enormous developments in our understanding of biology on the molecular scale, with physics playing a key role in solving many central problems through the development and application of new physical science techniques, biophysical analysis and rigorous intellectual insight. The early days of single-molecule biophysics research was centred around molecular motors and biopolymers, largely divorced from a real physiological context. The new generation of single-molecule bioscience investigations has much greater scope, involving robust methods for understanding molecular-level details of the most fundamental biological processes in far more realistic, and technically challenging, physiological contexts, emerging into a new field of 'single-molecule cellular biophysics'. Here, I outline how this new field has evolved, discuss the key active areas of current research and speculate on where this may all lead in the near future.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Authors 2012. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Philosophical Transactions B. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Actins,Adenosine Triphosphate,Biophysical Processes,Cell Biology,Cell Membrane,Cells,Computational Biology,Fluorescent Dyes,Molecular Imaging,Nanoparticles,Nanotechnology,Optical Imaging,Proton-Translocating ATPases,Sensitivity and Specificity,Time Factors |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Biology (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Physics (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 07 Dec 2015 11:04 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 12:24 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0248 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rstb.2012.0248 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:84953 |
Download
Filename: Leake_2013_physics_of_life_intro_VANILLA.pdf
Description: Leake_2013 physics of life_intro_VANILLA