Books in the Methods in Molecular Biology series

Whether the question is one of basic cell survival, or whether it is being used to correlate cell number to some other factor such as matrix synthesis, an estimate of cell viability is universally required.

Chemical library technologies have brought about dramatic changes in the drug discovery process, and, though still evolving, they have become an integral part of ongoing drug discovery research.

Driven by methodological success in identifying reliable lineage markers, regulatory T cells have quickly been recognized as the most numerous subset of immune regulators in the body with critical functions in a wide array of immune responses.

Vertebrate Embryogenesis: Embryological, Cellular and Genetic Methods attempts to address the increasingly important need of straddling species boundaries in the context of a single research program by compiling research protocols used in a wide range of vertebrate species.

Due to their novel concepts and extraordinary high-throughput sequencing capacity, the "next generation sequencing" methods allow scientists to grasp system-wide landscapes of the complex molecular events taking place in various biological systems, including microorganisms and microbial communities.

Now we can accurately predict cis-regulatory modules, conserved cl- ters of binding sites (Chapters 13 and 15), partly based on high-throughput ch- matin immunoprecipitation experiments in which tens of millions of DNA segments are sequenced by massively parallel, next-generation sequencers (ChIP-seq, Chapters 9, 10, and 11).

The proteome consists of a complex mixture of proteins each of which need to be folded correctly in order to function for the health of the organism, and many of these proteins require molecular chaperones to reach the correct conformation and, in some cases, to remain in a folded form.

Written in the successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, In Vivo NMR Imaging: Methods and Protocols aims to be an experimental compendium of modern in vivo MR imaging with special focus on recent developments in molecular imaging and new protocols for imaging metabolism and molecular markers.

In The Plant Cell Wall: Methods and Protocols, experts in the field describe detailed methods which are currently being applied to investigate the many aspects of the plant cell wall including its structure, biochemical composition, and metabolism.

Cell cycle checkpoints control the fidelity and orderly progression of eukaryotic cell division. By controlling the orderly progression of critical cell cycle events such as DNA replication and chromosome segregation and ensuring proper repair of damaged DNA, cell cycle checkpoints function to ensure genome integrity. Mechanisms of checkpoint controls are not only the research focus of investigators interested in mechanisms that regulate the cell cycle, but are also the interests of researchers studying cancer development as it is increasingly clear that loss of cell cycle checkpoints, which leads to genomic instability as a result, is a hallmark of tumorigenesis. Cell Cycle Checkpoints: Methods and Protocols provides detailed descriptions of methodologies currently employed by researchers in the field, including those commonly used in the mammalian, yeast, C. elegans, Drosophila, and Xenopus model systems. Each chapter describes a specific technique or protocol, such as a method to induce cell cycle checkpoints in a particular model system, to synchronize a population of cells to allow observations of cell cycle progression, to identify genes involved in checkpoint regulation, and to study particular protein components of cell cycle checkpoint pathways. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology¿ series format, chapters contain introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easily accessible, Cell Cycle Checkpoints: Methods and Protocols seeks to serve both professionals and novices with its well-honed methodologies in an effort to further our knowledge of this essentialfield.

Characterization of copy number variation and other forms of structural genetic variation has highlighted the complexity of human genetic variation and also provided significant insight into the evolution and dynamic nature of our genome.

The last fifteen years have witnessed the birth and maturation of many original methods and the development of protocols specific to single molecule measurements and their analysis, including techniques involving optical imaging, electron microscopy, optical and magnetic trapping, and developments in atomic force microscopy.

Systems biology is the study of interactions between assorted components of biological systems with the aim of acquiring new insights into how organisms function and respond to different stimuli.

The field of protein NMR spectroscopy has rapidly expanded into new areas of biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology research that were impossible to study as recently as ten years ago.

In DNA Damage Detection In Situ, Ex Vivo, and In Vivo: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers explore the latest advances in the area, covering both recent and established techniques to detect and quantify DNA damage at scales ranging from subcellular to the level of a whole live organism.