Biophysical Chemistry

Biophysical Chemistry by Klostermeier and Rudolph is an excellent up-to-date addition to current text book resources covering biophysical theory and practice. The book is well-structured into four main parts on Thermodynamics, Kinetics, Molecular Structure and Stability, and finally Methods. It is understandable and easy to read. The figures are spectacular, and the equations are well defined. The index is thorough, and the last Appendix briefly summarises the mathematical concepts used in the book, although some mathematical training would be required to derive the steps to reach some of the resulting equations. It was particularly pleasing to see sections on X-ray Free Electron Lasers and on the use of lipidic cubic phase for the crystallisation of membrane proteins, since these cutting edge approaches are at the forefront of structural biology research.
The layout of the book aids understanding by providing boxes which explain particular concepts and formalisms, while not interrupting the general flow. Overall the book is very comprehensive and will be appropriate as a companion and supplement to the first and second year courses in biophysics provided for our Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry undergraduates here at Oxford.
-Elspeth F. Garman, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, University of Oxford

This is a superb book with something for everyone who works in any aspect of modern molecular biology. It integrates all major structural and biophysical techniques in a single volume describing them with sufficient rigor for serious physical scientists, but also provides sufficient clarity and practical examples such that those lacking interest or more formal training can still clearly appreciate what is going on. Every technique and most aspects of theory are beautifully illustrated with simple diagrams. The emphasis is on giving the user enough insight that they can decide whether a particular technique is what they need to solve their problem, with at the same time enough information to allow them to design sensible experiments.
In one volume it replaces three or four of the books on my office shelf that have much less comprehensive coverage of such topics, and at the same time it is right up to date, for example in its descriptions of single molecule spectroscopy and imaging, and the recent developments in electron microscopy. It will also be a useful advanced teaching tool since each chapter ends with a series of questions that allow students to test their understanding. I'm sure my laboratory will end up consulting it regularly.
-Peter Stockley, Professor of Biological Chemistry, University of Leeds, UK

This book provides an excellent and consistent presentation of biochemistry, biophysics and structural methods for macromolecules. I particularly liked the didactic approach of the authors, going from the thermodynamics to kinetics and further to interactions and structure to arrive at a complete picture. This book offers both comprehensive theoretical coverage and nice guides to practical problems solving.
-Dmitri I. Svergun, Group Leader and Senior Scientist, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Unit

In these busy times with all the excitement about elaborate techniques that directly visualize cellular processes, the underlying knowledge that is necessary to truly understand these processes, and the techniques that are applied to gain this knowledge, is often neglected or covered rather incompletely.
The textbook by Klostermeier and Rudolph seems to be a remedy to this problem since it manages in an impressive way to bridge elementary principles of biophysical chemistry and structural biology, and descriptions of modern techniques. I also find the style of the book very pleasing since it is a perfect synthesis of traditional textbook style, that is simply necessary in this field, and modern graphical annotations including the box-principle where important side-themes are summarized and presented optimally. I'm convinced that this textbook will manage to sooth the common fear of biophysical chemistry, and allow students and researchers from other fields to swiftly master these important topics.
-Jochen Reinstein (Priv. Doz., Dr. rer. nat.), Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research

The book Biophysical Chemistry will be a must-have for students and lecturers in a broad field of Biochemistry, Biophysics, Biology and of course Biophysical chemistry. It is very clearly and precisely written presenting the fundamentals of thermodynamics and kinetics, before focusing on the structure and stability of biomolecules. In addition, an up to date presentation of the most important biophysical techniques used to study macromolecules is given. Each chapter is followed by questions to allow students (but also teachers) to reflect critically the subject leading to deeper understanding of the main text.
In summary: a first class and immensely useful textbook, indispensable for students but also for scientists in the field.
-Hans-Joachim Galla, Professor Emeritus, Institute for Biochemistry, University of Muenster