Photosynthetic reaction center

Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems.^[1] Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems. Biophysical research shares significant overlap with biochemistry, nanotechnology, bioengineering, agrophysics and systems biology.

Molecular biophysics typically addresses biological questions that are similar to those in biochemistry and molecular biology, but the questions are approached quantitatively. Scientists in this field conduct research concerned with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis, as well as how these interactions are regulated. A great variety of techniques are used to answer these questions.

Fluorescent imaging techniques, as well as electron microscopy, x-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are often used to visualize structures of biological significance. Conformational change in structure can be measured using techniques such as dual polarisation interferometry and circular dichroism. Direct manipulation of molecules using optical tweezers or AFM can also be used to monitor biological events where forces and distances are at the nanoscale. Molecular biophysicists often consider complex biological events as systems of interacting units which can be understood through statistical mechanics, thermodynamics and chemical kinetics. By drawing knowledge and experimental techniques from a wide variety of disciplines, biophysicists are often able to directly observe, model or even manipulate the structures and interactions of individual molecules or complexes of molecules.

In addition to traditional (i.e. molecular and cellular) biophysical topics like structural biology or enzyme kinetics, modern biophysics encompasses an extraordinarily broad range of research, from bioelectronics to quantum biology involving both experimental and theoretical tools. It is becoming increasingly common for biophysicists to apply the models and experimental techniques derived from physics, as well as mathematics and statistics (see biomathematics), to larger systems such as tissues, organs, populations and ecosystems.

Focus as a subfield[link]

Biophysics often does not have university-level departments of its own, but has presence as groups across departments within the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, medicine, pharmacology, physiology, physics, and neuroscience. What follows is a list of examples of how each department applies its efforts toward the study of biophysics. This list is hardly all inclusive. Nor does each subject of study belong exclusively to any particular department. Each academic institution makes its own rules and there is much overlap between departments.

• Biology and molecular biology - Almost all forms of biophysics efforts are included in some biology department somewhere. To include some: gene regulation, single protein dynamics, bioenergetics, patch clamping, biomechanics.
• Structural biology - Ångstrom-resolution structures of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates, and complexes thereof.
• Biochemistry and chemistry - biomolecular structure, siRNA, nucleic acid structure, structure-activity relationships.
• Computer science - Neural networks, biomolecular and drug databases.
• Computational chemistry - molecular dynamics simulation, molecular docking, quantum chemistry
• Bioinformatics - sequence alignment, structural alignment, protein structure prediction
• Mathematics - graph/network theory, population modeling, dynamical systems, phylogenetics.
• Medicine and neuroscience - tackling neural networks experimentally (brain slicing) as well as theoretically (computer models), membrane permitivity, gene therapy, understanding tumors.
• Pharmacology and physiology - channel biology, biomolecular interactions, cellular membranes, polyketides.
• Physics - biomolecular free energy, stochastic processes, covering dynamics.
• Quantum biophysics involves quantum information processing of coherent states, entanglement between coherent protons and transcriptase components, and replication of decohered isomers to yield time-dependent base substitutions. These studies imply applications in quantum computing.
• Agronomy and agriculture

Many biophysical techniques are unique to this field. Research efforts in biophysics are often initiated by scientists who were traditional physicists, chemists, and biologists by training.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

At Wikiversity you can learn more and teach others about Biophysics at: The Department of Biophysics

• Biophysical Society
• Journal of Physiology: 2012 virtual issue Biophysics and Beyond

Clara Williams (May 3, 1888 – May 8, 1928) was an American silent film actress. Along with Louise Glaum and Dorothy Dalton, she was one of the principal leading ladies at Inceville, one of the first motion picture studios to make feature films in Los Angeles. Williams appeared in more than one hundred films between 1910 and 1918, including starring roles in The Italian and William S. Hart's western, Hell's Hinges, both of which are included in the National Film Registry. When she married director Reginald Barker at age 31, she retired from acting.

Williams was born in Seattle, Washington, and made her screen debut in Western Chivalry in 1910. The success of The Italian (1915), in which she played the wife of an immigrant, resulted in her being typecast in roles as Latin characters. In 1917, the Los Angeles Times noted, "Heretofore she has been known almost exclusively as a portrayer of Latin parts, simply because she was such success in that sort of a role in The Italian, in which she played the leading part opposite George Beban."^[1]

In 1917, Williams and several other of the important actors and directors from Inceville left the studio to join the newly formed Paralta Company. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Now that she is at the head of her own company and has the right to choose her own stories, she will have all the freedom in the world to show her versatility."^[1] Williams first film with Paralta, and also the last film in her acting career, was a story of the Klondike Gold Rush, Carmen of the Klondike.^[1][2]

During her years with the Triangle studios, Williams had become known for her many gowns, and the phrase "forty famous frocks" was coined to describe her wardrobe.^[3] When Williams left Triangle for Paralta, the Los Angeles Times asked whether the famous frocks would move with her. It reported, "Clara is now in a quandary. She wants to get some more frocks, but if she does it will spoil the phrase 'forty famous frocks,' and that would never do."^[3]

While working at the Ince studios, Williams met director Reginald Barker. He directed her in numerous films, including The Man from Oregon (1915), The Criminal (1916), Three of Many (1917), Paws of the Bear (1917), The One Woman (1918), and Carmen of the Klondike (1918), which was her last screen appearance. She married Barker in February 1920 and retired.^[4]

In 1925, the Los Angeles Times interviewed the former movie star who the Times reported was "now just a housewife."^[5] At the time, Williams said that she and her husband had never had a quarrel and defended her new domestic life by stating, "To me there is no comparison in the amount of pleasure to be enjoyed from home life as opposed to a career."^[5]

In late February 1928, the Los Angeles Times reported that Williams had undergone a major surgery for an undisclosed condition at the California Lutheran Hospital.^[6] In May 1928, she died at her Los Angeles home at age 40 following a prolonged illness.^[4][7] She was survived by her husband and a brother. Her funeral was held at the Little Church of the Flowers, and her remains were cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Clara Williams at the Internet Movie Database

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (May 2010)

Stephen T. Sinatra (born 1946) is a board certified cardiologist, nutritionist, and anti-aging specialist specializing in integrative medicine. He is also a certified bioenergetic psychotherapist.^[1] He has published articles in scientific journals on topics such as cholesterol^[2] and coenzyme Q₁₀.^[3] Other areas of his work such as "earthing" are controversial, with critics stating that the claims are unproven by controlled scientific studies.^[4] He has appeared on national radio and television broadcasts, including CNN’s “Sunday Morning News,” XM Radio’s “America’s Doctor Dr. Mehmet Oz,” and PBS’s “Body & Soul."^[5][6][7] He is also the author of the monthly newsletter Heart, Health & Nutrition and founder of Heart MD Institute.^[8]

Training and Practice[link]

Dr. Sinatra graduated from New York’s Albany Medical College in 1972, and earned his certification in internal medicine from the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1975. He is board-certified by the American College of Cardiology and has been a fellow of the American College of Cardiology since 1977. His additional credentials include certifications from the Massachusetts Society for Bioenergetic Analysis (1992), the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine (1998), and the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists (2000). He is also a fellow of the American College of Nutrition.

Having pioneered the use of coenzyme Q₁₀ in the prevention and treatment of heart disease, Sinatra has published books, booklets, and articles on the subject.^[9] His experience with CoQ₁₀ led him to develop a new branch of cardiology in the United States: "metabolic cardiology." Metabolic cardiology involves preventing and treating cardiovascular disease at the cellular level with nutraceuticals which improve ATP production in heart cells.^[10] Dr. Sinatra currently lectures nationwide about metabolic cardiology as well as energy medicine, focusing on the use of electroceuticals such as grounding or "earthing" to improve the body's capacity to heal at the cellular level.^[11]

Dr. Sinatra has been affiliated with Manchester Memorial Hospital (Connecticut) throughout his career, beginning as an attending physician in internal medicine and cardiology. Subsequent positions included terms as the hospital’s Director of Medical Education, Chief of Cardiology, Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation, and Director of the Weight Reducing Program. Sinatra has also had various teaching responsibilities with the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and is a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors within the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M).^[12]

Medical Philosophy[link]

In his books, newsletter, and interviews, Dr. Sinatra advocates treatment approaches that combine conventional medical therapies with nutritional and mind-body therapies to enhance the body’s natural bioenergetics and heal the heart. He promotes five specific pillars of cardiac health: (1) an anti-inflammatory diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, fish, nuts, and healthy oils, similar to the Mediterranean Diet [Dr. Sinatra has also developed an anti-inflammatory, low-glycemic nutrition plan called the Pan-Asian / Modified Mediterranean (PAMM) Diet]; (2) nutritional supplementation that includes a high-potency multi-nutrient, fish oil, magnesium, vitamin C, and coenzyme Q₁₀; (3) regular exercise; (4) detoxification; and (5) stress reduction.^[13]

Sinatra is particularly aware of the impact one’s emotions have on overall health and the need to resolve emotional blockages as well as physical ones. He has stated that “whenever you confront a person with an illness, you have to involve everything, including the spiritual.… Every illness has a psychological and a physical component.”^[6] He points to such interconnectedness in the relationship between unexpressed negative emotions—anger and sadness, for example—and the development of high blood pressure and heart disease.^[6][14] Sinatra also believes that heart disease manifests differently in women than in men, and that such differences ultimately affect diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women.^[15]

Sinatra’s 2005 presentation at the American College for the Advancement of Medicine’s Conference on Scientific Integrative Medicine introduced the concept of “metabolic cardiology.”^[16] This type of therapy involves giving patients supplemental doses of substances that occur naturally in the body in order to enhance metabolic reactions in cells. Dr. Sinatra believes coenzyme Q₁₀, D-ribose, and L-carnitine to be especially important in this process because of the roles they play in the production and use of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the body’s basic cellular fuel. In this context, he has called coenzyme Q₁₀ a “wonder nutrient,” especially in women, for its ability to help the heart pump more effectively.^[14][17] His ACAM presentation also suggested that low levels of coenzyQ₁₀ may result in the development of heart disease.

Dr. Sinatra has often been critical of an over-emphasis on cholesterol as an independent risk factor for heart disease and of what he considers the over-prescription of statin drugs.^[18] Most statin drugs, which block an enzyme pathway necessary for the body to produce cholesterol, also block the enzyme pathway by which the body naturally produces coenzyme Q₁₀. Sinatra acknowledges that these drugs accomplish their goal of reducing cholesterol, but maintains that they also deprive the heart and other muscles of a vital nutrient and thereby set the stage for potential heart failure.

Sinatra is also critical of refined sugar, which he has called “public enemy number one when it comes to heart disease, not cholesterol.”^[19] He believes the surges of insulin that occur when too much sugar is consumed create a “yo-yo effect” that, over time, damages the inner lining of the blood vessels. He also believes that sugar is linked to the proliferation of cancer cells.^[20]

"Grounding"[link]

Dr. Sinatra advocates a controversial alternative health practice called "grounding" or "earthing." According to the theory of grounding, the earth's surface is negatively charged and contact with the earth transfers allows electrons to neutralize free radicals in the human body. Advocates say this can be accomplished by lying or walking barefoot on grass, sand or earth, or by lying on a special pad connected to the earth by grounding wires or a rod, or plugged into a wall outlet with a "modern earth ground system."^{[21] [22]}

Commercial Interests[link]

Dr. Sinatra formulates and sells nutritional supplements under the brand name "Advanced BioSolutions."

Books and Publications[link]

Dr Sinatra is the author of the monthly newsletter Heart, Health & Nutrition (ISSN 1554-2467), and has written or contributed to the following books:

• Earthing - the most important health discovery ever? (Basic Health, 2010)

• Bottom Line's The Healing Kitchen (Bottom Line, 2010)

• The Sinatra Solution: Metabolic Cardiology (Basic Health, 2005, 2008)

• Sugar Shock! How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life—And How You Can Get Back on Track (Berkley Trade, 2006)

• Reverse Heart Disease Now: Stop Deadly Cardiovascular Plaque Before It's Too Late (Wiley, 2006)

• The Fast Food Diet: Lose Weight and Feel Great Even If You’re Too Busy to Eat Right (Wiley, 2006)

• Spa Medicine: Your Gateway to the Ageless Zone (Basic Health, 2004)

• Lower Your Blood Pressure in Eight Weeks (Ballantine, 2003)

• Heart Sense for Women (Plume, 2001)

• Tocotrienols and Vitamin E (Keats, 2000)

• Heartbreak & Heart Disease: A Mind/Body Prescription for Healing the Heart (IBS Books, 1999)

• Optimum Health: A Natural Lifesaving Prescription for Your Body and Mind (Bantam, 1998)

• L-Carnitine and the Heart (McGraw-Hill, 1999)

• Coenzyme Q₁₀ and the Heart (McGraw-Hill, 1999)

• The Coenzyme Q₁₀ Phenomenon (McGraw-Hill, 1999)

• Lose to Win: A Cardiologist’s Guide to Weight Loss and Nutritional Healing (Lincoln Bradley Publishing, 1992) 20:03, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Heart MD Institute[link]

In 2009, Dr. Sinatra founded Heart MD Institute, a web site dedicated to increasing public awareness of integrative medicine. Heart MD Institute, or HMDI, is an educational platform through which people can learn about preventive lifestyle habits, as well as health issues related to various body systems or gender. One branch of Heart MD Institute, which expands upon Sinatra's pillars of cardiac health, is dedicated to “heart-healthy lifestyle" topics; it features information about diet, supplementation, exercise, detoxification, alternative healing modalities, and mind-body medicine. The "health concerns" branch offers information about conditions such as cancer and diabetes, and issues related to the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal systems.^[23]

References[link]

1. ^ Sinatra ST. Heartbreak and Heart Disease (Keats Publishing 1996, 1999).
2. ^ "Is Cholesterol Lowering with Statins the Gold Standard for Treating Patients with Cardiovascular Risk and Disease?" at http://journals.lww.com/smajournalonline/Citation/2003/03000/Is_Cholesterol_Lowering_with_Statins_the_Gold.2.aspx
3. ^ "Relative bioavailability of coenzyme Q₁₀ formulations in human subjects" at http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/9565826
4. ^ "Are you a grounded person? Skepticblog" at http://www.skepticblog.org/2010/08/12/are-you-a-grounded-person/
5. ^ CNN Transcript - Sunday Morning News: Women Face Heart Ailments Specific to Their Gender - February 11, 2001
6. ^ ^{a b c} Body & Soul with Gail Harris
7. ^ IHRSA - Speaker - Sinatra
8. ^ Dr. Sinatra Biography at http://vid-cloud.com/401/heartmdinstitute.com/index.php/about-us/stephen-t-sinatra-md-facc-facn-cns-cbt?idmenu=23
9. ^ "CoenzymeQ₁₀ and Heart Health: an Interview with Dr. Stephen Sinatra Part 1" at http://www.drpasswater.com/nutrition_library/Sinatra_1.html and American Dream Show Guest: Stephen T. Sinatra, MD at http://www.americandreamshow.com/Stephen_T_Sinatra.htm
10. ^ Metabolic Cardiology at http://www.vid-cloud.com/412/heartmdinstitute.com/index.php/health-concerns/cardiovascular-system/metabolic-cardiology?idmenu=9
11. ^ "Electroceuticals" at http://www.vid-cloud.com/420/heartmdinstitute.com/index.php/heart-healthy-lifestyles/alternative-healing?&idmenu=8&Itemid=8
12. ^ American Academy of Anti-Aging Advisory Board
13. ^ Dr. Stephen Sinatra’s Heart, Health & Nutrition, February 2008
14. ^ ^{a b} Sinatra, ST. Heartbreak & Heart Disease: A Mind/Body Prescription for Healing the Heart. Keats Publishing: New Canaan, CT. 1996
15. ^ Interview with "Dr. Stephen Sinatra on Women, Stress and Heart Disease" at http://www.health.com/health/condition-article/0,,20225817_1,00.html
16. ^ Stephen A. Feig, James Biddle, Eleanor Hynote, Neal Speight, Kenneth Bock, Allan Magaziner and Joseph E. Rich. Summary of the American College for Advancement in Medicine November 2005 Conference on Scientific Integrative Medicine: Advancing Health Horizons. Evidence-based Compl. and Alt. Medicine. 3(3):385–391. Available online at http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/3/3/385.
17. ^ Heart Sense for Thyroid Patients
18. ^ Dr. Stephen Sinatra’s Heart, Health & Nutrition, February 2008.
19. ^ Dr. Mehmet Oz: 'Sugar Shock'
20. ^ Dr. Stephen Sinatra’s Heart, Health & Nutrition, November 2006.
21. ^ , http://www.heartmdinstitute.com/heart-healthy-lifestyles/alternative-healing/grounding-earthing, retrieved 2012-05-09 
22. ^ Sinatra, Stephen T.; Ober, Clinton; Zucker, Martin (2010), Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?, Laguna Beach, California: Basic Health Publications, ISBN 9781591202837 
23. ^ http://www.prweb.com/releases/heartmdinstitute/health/prweb3494344.htm

External links[link]

• Dr. Stephen Sinatra, Official Website
• "Sugar Shocked" on Oprah.com
• Heart Sense for Thyroid Patients
• Interview on Increased Risk of Heart Disease in Women with Thyroid Disease
• Are You At Risk for a Heart Attack?
• East/West Medicine
• Expo West 2008
• New Living Magazine write-up on Lower Your Blood Pressure in Eight Weeks

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2012)

Taekjip Ha (born February 20, 1968, Seoul, South Korea) is a South Korean-born American biophysicist who is currently a Gutgsell Professor of Physics,^[5] where he is the principal investigator of Single Molecule Nanometry group [1]. Ha holds appointments as professor in the Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology and as a faculty member of the precision proteomics research theme in the Institute for Genomic Biology. He is an affiliate of the Beckman Institute, the Department of Medical Biochemistry, College of Medicine, and the Department of Chemistry at Illinois.In 2008, with Klaus Schulten, Ha led the team that obtained National Science Foundation funding for a new “Physics Frontiers Centers” at the University of Illinois. The Center for the Physics of Living Cells (CPLC), of which Ha is co-director^[6], is one of only nine such NSF centers in the United States, and one of only two devoted to biological physics^[7].He also holds a WCU Professorship at Department of Biophysics and Chemical Biology, Seoul National University. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator which with its endowment of $16.1 billion is the second-wealthiest philanthropic organization in the United States and the second-best endowed medical research foundation in the world.^[8].He also occupies other prominent positions in various scientific groups and communities^[9]

Education[link]

He received a BS degree in Physics from Seoul National University in 1990, and joined Physics department at University of California, Berkeley where he began to study atomic physics in the lab of Raymond Jeanloz in Berkeley’s geophysics department and worked on a project to place nitrogen and carbon under very high pressures, with the goal to create a material harder than diamonds and in between he had to take a temporary leave of absence from Berkeley to South Korea for a year to fulfill South Korea’s military service requirements. Upon his return, Ha changed his research interests and joined the lab of Daniel Chemla, a prominent scientist known for his studies of quantum optics of semiconductors. Soon after joining Chemla’s group, Ha began working closely with scientist Shimon Weiss to build a near-field scanning optical microscope, a machine equipped with a small aperture and a short-pulse laser able to measure a material’s properties with high time and spatial resolution.He subsequently received both his MA and PhD from Berkeley and continued to do his Postdoctoral research there and later held a Post doctoral position at Stanford University with advisor Steven Chu and joined University of Illinois on August, 2000 as assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology.^[10]

Research[link]

Taekjip Ha uses sophisticated physical techniques to manipulate and visualize the movements of single molecules^[11] to understand basic biological processes involving DNA ^[12] and other molecules.^[13] Ha was one of the very first to apply the use of single-molecule techniques^{[14] [15]} and has pioneered the technique^{[16] [17] [18]} in studying biological system usually supported by nano-mechanical tools such as magnetic and optical tweezers.^[19] The biological systems under study include helicases that unzip DNA^[20], DNA recombination intermediate called Holliday junction and its associated enzymes, folding and catalysis of hairpin and VS ribozymes, DNA replication machinery, and chromatin remodeling complexes.^[21] He has been cited more than 9800 times and his current H index is 51.^[22].

See also[link]

• James D. Watson
• Vijay Pande
• Steven Block
• Arthur Ashkin
• Julio M. Fernandez
• Alan Fersht
• Stephen D. Levene
• W. E. Moerner
• Paul Lauterbur
• List of biophysicists

References[link]

Xiaowei Zhuang (1972 - )(simplified Chinese: 庄小威; traditional Chinese: 莊小威) is an American biophysicist, National Academy of Sciences Members^[1] and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Physics, at Harvard University.^[2][3][4] She is an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.^[5]

In 1987, she graduated from the preparation class for Gifted Young College(少年班) of USTC in Suzhou High School. She graduated from University of Science and Technology of China with a B.S. in Physics, and from University of California, Berkeley with a Ph.D. in Physics. She was a Chodorow Postdoctoral Fellow, at Stanford University from 1997 to 2001.^[6] Since forming her own lab at Harvard, she has led a team of researchers to develop super resolution microscopy techniques^[7], identify the entry mechanisms of individual virus particles into cells^[8], and probe the nature of key nucleic acid-protein interactions using single-molecule techniques.

Awards[link]

• 2003 MacArthur Fellows Program
• 2003 David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• 2010 Max Delbruck Prize
• 2011 Sackler Prize

Works[link]

• B. Huang, W. Wang, M. Bates, X. Zhuang, "Three-dimensional Super-resolution Imaging by Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy", Science 319, 810-813 (2008)
• M. Bates, B. Huang, G. T. Dempsey, X. Zhuang, "Multicolor Super-Resolution Imaging with Photo-Switchable Fluorescent Probes", Science 317, 1749-1753 (2007)
• M. J. Rust, M. Bates, X. Zhuang, "Sub-diffraction-limit imaging by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM)", Nature Methods 3, 793-795 (2006)

References[link]