Robert Gilbert – författare

When scientists describe their results or insights as ''beautiful'', are they using the term differently from when they use it of a landscape, music or another person?

Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty re-examines the way in which seeing beauty in the world plays the key role in scientific advances, and argues that the reliance on such a personal point of view is ultimately justified by belief that we are made in the ''image of God'', as Christian and Jewish believers assert. It brings a fresh voice to the ongoing debate about faith and science, and suggests that scientists have as much explaining to do as believers when it comes to the ways they reach their conclusions.

When scientists describe their results or insights as ''beautiful'', are they using the term differently from when they use it of a landscape, music or another person?

Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty re-examines the way in which seeing beauty in the world plays the key role in scientific advances, and argues that the reliance on such a personal point of view is ultimately justified by belief that we are made in the ''image of God'', as Christian and Jewish believers assert. It brings a fresh voice to the ongoing debate about faith and science, and suggests that scientists have as much explaining to do as believers when it comes to the ways they reach their conclusions.

This book focusses on evolutionary, structural and functional aspects of pore-forming proteins, bringing together prominent researchers in the fields of structural biology and cellular and biophysical techniques. The focus is on the MACPF/CDC protein super family that was originally discovered because of unexpected structural similarity between a domain present in bacterial cholesterol-dependent cytolysins (CDC) and proteins of the membrane attack complex/perforin (MACPF) family. Members of the MACPF/CDC super family are crucial for many biological processes, being efficient agents of development, defence, attack and invasion of cells and tissues. However, their best-known role is in bacterial pathogenesis and the proper functioning of the vertebrate immune system, via formation of transmembrane pores in target cell membranes.

The book contains chapters on the distribution of MACPF/CDC proteins and on aspects of their evolution and structural properties, the similarities between different super family members and functional properties of some of the best known examples. The book also contains an overview of biophysical approaches that may be used in the future to provide further insights into how these interesting proteins function.