Shuguang Zhang - Böcker

"This book brings back memories of the great Alex Rich, a pioneer in molecular biology. He was friend, a mentor and a colleague who contributed greatly to the understanding of living processes and molecular structures."David Baltimore1975 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or MedicineThis book is intended for students and general readers who are interested in the structures of biological molecules and history of science. The center of gravity of Alexander Rich's work is on nucleic acids and their structures and their roles in biology, but the breadth of his work is nearly unparalleled. Alex Rich published important early discoveries on the structure and activity of RNA, information transfer (translation) from RNA to protein, the structure of ribosomes with insights into polyribosome functions, the first atomic-resolution structure of nucleic acid base pairings, and the discovery of a hitherto-unknown conformation of DNA. Many of Rich's articles also have a focus on the structure of proteins in general as well as specific proteins and some are concerned with the structure of viruses. Some of Rich's early experimental work is based on scattering of X-rays from fibers but X-ray diffraction from crystals became the dominating technique of the Cold War.This is a book full of rich history of early days of modern biology and many fundamental discoveries. Alex Rich's main focus throughout his long career was on nucleic acids. His first paper on nucleic acids, was published together with JD Watson. Two years later, Rich reported creating fibers of poly-Uracil and poly-Adenine and studied their structures by diffraction.Alex Rich's laboratory determined the high resolution crystal structures of the ApU and GpC fragments of double helical RNA from Rich's group is considered a landmark in the detailed understanding of nucleic acid structure.

This book provides a thorough analysis of the evolution of land property rights and transfer mechanism during the transition of the Chinese society from being a traditional self-sustaining agricultural society to a modern commercialized agricultural society. It provides empirical proof for complicated property rights theories and a solution and path for land capitalization. It discloses that in practice, land ownership may not be the essence and knot of the problem, and that the implementation of land property rights really matters.The book also provides a series of pragmatic solutions and measures to improve the current land law system and land policy in China. It stresses the importance of a pragmatic research methodology that is based on arguments on real life research and evidence, which may help promote a more grounded research atmosphere in the Chinese academia.

This book provides a glimpse into the life and work of Robert Langer, an amazing scientist, inventor and entrepreneur. Growing up in Albany, New York, Langer developed a passion for mathematics. While he was pretty good at science, he was very good at math. He went on to receive his BA in chemical engineering from Cornell University and his Doctorate of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a graduate student at MIT, he was involved in teaching underprivileged high school dropouts, his goal: to make math and science interesting.Langer's research laboratory at MIT is the largest biomedical engineering lab in the world. He has authored more than 1300 papers and holds more than 1080 patents. His patents have been licensed or sublicensed to more than 250 companies. A selection of 53 key papers and 50 patents are included in this book.Langer has pioneered many new technologies, including controlled release system and is regarded as the founder of tissue engineering in the field of regenerative medicine. However, his success did not come easily. He struggled in the late 1970s and early 1980s because scientists, especially established scientists, did not believe in his research. To obtain his first patent, Langer scoured existing literature and found a paper published by five famous chemists and chemical engineers that said his results were surprising and went against conventional thinking. He managed to get the patent after the five researchers confirmed that they really wrote the paper.The introductory chapter of the book gives an account of Langer's struggles as well as triumphs as he pursued research in biotechnology and tissue engineering in an effort to "make the world a better place and transform human healthcare." The book will appeal to both students and scientists.