Protocells
Bridging Nonliving and Living Matter
Published on 7. November 2008
Book
Hardback
712 pages
978-0-262-18268-3 (ISBN)
Description
The first comprehensive general resource on state-of-the-art protocell research, describing current approaches to making new forms of life from scratch in the laboratory. Protocells offers a comprehensive resource on current attempts to create simple forms of life from scratch in the laboratory. These minimal versions of cells, known as protocells, are entities with lifelike properties created from nonliving materials, and the book provides in-depth investigations of processes at the interface between nonliving and living matter. Chapters by experts in the field put this state-of-the-art research in the context of theory, laboratory work, and computer simulations on the components and properties of protocells. The book also provides perspectives on research in related areas and such broader societal issues as commercial applications and ethical considerations. The book covers all major scientific approaches to creating minimal life, both in the laboratory and in simulation. It emphasizes the bottom-up view of physicists, chemists, and material scientists but also includes the molecular biologists' top-down approach and the origin-of-life perspective. The capacity to engineer living technology could have an enormous socioeconomic impact and could bring both good and ill. Protocells promises to be the essential reference for research on bottom-up assembly of life and living technology for years to come. It is written to be both resource and inspiration for scientists working in this exciting and important field and a definitive text for the interested layman.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: From College Freshman to College Graduate Student
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
22 color illus., 100 b&w illus.; 122 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
1315 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-18268-3 (9780262182683)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Oran R. Young is Professor and Codirector of the Program on Governance for Sustainable Development at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change, sponsored by the International Council Of Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), and the United Nations University (UNU). He is the author of The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change: Fit, Interplay, and Scale (2002) and coeditor (with Leslie A. King and Heike Schroeder) of Institutions and Environmental Change: Principal Findings, Applications, and Research Frontiers (2008), both published by the MIT Press.
Steen Rasmussen is Scientific Team Leader for Self-Organizing Systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Professor of Physics at the Center for Fundamental Living Technologies at the University of Southern Denmark. Mark A. Bedau is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College, editor-in-chief of the journal Artificial Life, and cofounder and COO of ProtoLife Srl. He is and the coeditor of Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science (MIT Press, 2008). Liaohai Chen is a molecular biologist and Group Leader in the Biosciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory and Associate Professor at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. David Deamer is Research Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. David C. Krakauer is Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Norman H. Packard is cofounder and CEO of ProtoLife Srl. Peter F. Stadler is Professor of Bioinformatics at the University of Leipzig. Rasmussen, Packard, and Stadler are External Research Professors at the Santa Fe Institute.
David Deamer is Research Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
David C. Krakauer is Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
Peter F. Stadler is Professor of Bioinformatics at the University of Leipzig and an External Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
Liaohai Chen is a molecular biologist and Group Leader in the Biosciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory and Associate Professor at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago.
Steen Rasmussen is Scientific Team Leader for Self-Organizing Systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Professor of Physics at the Center for Fundamental Living Technologies at the University of Southern Denmark. Mark A. Bedau is Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College, editor-in-chief of the journal Artificial Life, and cofounder and COO of ProtoLife Srl. He is and the coeditor of Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Philosophy and Science (MIT Press, 2008). Liaohai Chen is a molecular biologist and Group Leader in the Biosciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory and Associate Professor at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. David Deamer is Research Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. David C. Krakauer is Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Norman H. Packard is cofounder and CEO of ProtoLife Srl. Peter F. Stadler is Professor of Bioinformatics at the University of Leipzig. Rasmussen, Packard, and Stadler are External Research Professors at the Santa Fe Institute.
David Deamer is Research Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
David C. Krakauer is Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
Peter F. Stadler is Professor of Bioinformatics at the University of Leipzig and an External Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
Liaohai Chen is a molecular biologist and Group Leader in the Biosciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory and Associate Professor at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago.
Editor
Professor and Center DirectorUniversity of Southern Denmark
Professor of Philosophy and HumanitiesReed College
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Fe Institute
ProtoLife
Universitaet Leipzig
Contributions
University of Southern Denmark
University of California, Santa Cruz
Universita degli Studi di Roma Tre