Single Molecule Dynamics in Life Science

Toshio Yanagida did his undergraduate and graduate studies in semi-conductor physics at Osaka University (Osaka, Japan). He then switched to biophysics in 1970 to pursue a career in basic science. He is now professor and Dean of the Osaka University Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, and project leader at both the Single Molecule Processes Project and the Kansai Advanced Research Center Communications in Japan. His teams are leading the development of single-molecule detection techniques to investigate the molecular motor of contracting muscle. Professor Yanagida is a founding editor of the Journals "Single Molecules" and "Small". For his scientific achievements, he has received numerous awards, among them the Japan Academy Award and the Japanese Imperial Award. Yoshiharu Ishii studied physics and biophysics at the Universities of Tokyo and Nagoya (Japan). From 1983 onwards he worked at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute (USA), returning to Japan in 1992 to pursue his research career in applied biophysics. He is currently a group leader in the soft nanomachine project at Osaka University.

A Road Map to Single Molecule Dynamics
Single Molecule Study for Elucidating the Mechanism used by Biosystems to Utilize Thermal Fluctuations
Imaging and Molecular Motors
Ion Channel
Signal Transduction across the Plasma Membrane
Dynamics of Membrane Receptors: Single Molecule Tracking of Quantum Dot Liganded Epidermal Growth Factor
Studying Dynamics of Ligand-Receptor Complexes by Single-Molecule Techniques
RNA in Cells
Protein Dynamics and Interactions
Two Rotary Motors of ATP Synthase
Single Molecule FRET Studies of Helicases and Holliday Junctions
High-speed Atomic Force Microscopy for Nano-visualization of Biomolecular Processes
Force-clamp Spectroscopy of Single Proteins

"An invaluable resource to rapidly familiarize oneself with the diverse approaches to single molecule experimentation." ( The Quarterly Review of Biology , December 2009)