Life - As a Matter of Fat

Ole G. Mouritsen ist Wissenschaftler und Professor für Biophysik an der Universität von Süd-Dänemark sowie dort Direktor des Zentrums für Physik der Biomembran. Er ist Mitglied der Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, der Danish Academy of Technical Sciences und der Danish Gastronomical Academy. Für seine Arbeiten wurde er mit zahlreichen wichtigen Preisen ausgezeichnet, so mit dem Danish National Prize for Research Communication (2007) und dem British Royal Society of Chemistry Bourke Award (2008). Ein besonderes Anliegen sind ihm neben der wissenschaftlichen Arbeit populärwissenschaftliche Bücher, neben Sushi hat er auch eines über die für Küche und Medizin interessanten Braunalgen veröffentlicht.

The Overlooked Molecules.- Life from Molecules.- Head and Tail.- Oil and Water.- Lipids Speak the Language of Curvature.- A Matter of Softness.- Soft Shells Shape Up.- Biological Membranes - Models and Fashion.- Prologue: Lipidomics - A Science Beyond Stamp Collection.- Lipids Make Sense.- Lipids in Bilayers - A Stressful Life.- The More We Are Together.- Lipids in Flatland.- Social Lipids.- Lively Lipids Provide for Function.- Proteins at Lipid Mattresses.- Lipids in Action.- Cholesterol on the Scene.- Lipids in Charge.- Being Smart - A Fishy Matter of Fat.- Liquor and Drugs - As a Matter of Fat.- Lipid Eaters.- Powerful and Strange Lipids at Work.- Survival by Lipids.

From the reviews:

"The book takes the reader on an exciting journey through the lipid world, and Mouritsen attracts the attention with a lively style of writing, and attitude to worldplay, as indicated in the book's title." (ChemBioChem 2005, 6, page 1463-1464)

"This is a highly interesting book and a pleasure to read. It represents a new and excellent pedagogical introduction to the field of lipids and the biophysics of biological membranes. I reckon that physicists and chemists as well as biologists will benefit from this approach to the field and Mouritsen shows a deep insight into the physical chemistry of lipids." (Göran Lindblom, Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 2005, vol. 135, page 105-106)

"This book is very much about many different aspects of the physical biochemistry of lipids. It covers the field in a very user friendly manner ... . Each chapter has a variety of useful diagrams and schematics illustrating the key points of the chapter. ... This book would make a useful contribution to libraries in universities and should be seen as essential reading for graduate students working in any aspect of cell biology, nutrition, and applied chemistry." (Andrew Sinclair, Chemistry in Australia, June, 2005)

"The book takes the reader on an exciting journey through the lipid world, and Mouritsen attracts the attention with a lively style of writing ... . a comprehensive view of the 'lipid sea' can be easily achieved, gaining the right perspectives for envisaging future developments in the nascent field of lipidomics." (Carla Ferreri, ChemBioChem, Vol. 6 (8), 2005)

"This is a highly interesting book and a pleasure to read. It represents a new and excellent pedagogical introduction to the field of lipids and the biophysics of biological membranes. ... I would like to highly recommend this book ... . an introductory textbook for graduate or advanced undergraduate students in biology, chemistry and physics as wellas a lovely complementary text in a course of colloid chemistry." (Göran Lindblom, Chemistry and Physics of Lipids, Vol. 135, 2005)

"This book presents a multidisciplinary perspective on the physics of life, and particularly, the role played by lipids and the lipid-bilayer component of cell membranes. ... This valuable and interesting book about the emerging science of lipidomics is aimed at undergraduate students and young research workers within physics, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, nutrition, as well as pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences." (Advances in Food Sciences, Vol. 28 (2), 2006)