A.A. Sousa and M.J. Kruhlak, eds.
New York, NY: Humana Press-Springer, 2013, 510 pages, $159
A common goal in biology is to dissect the astonishing complexity of the cellular molecular machinery, seeking to understand how individual components of this machinery assemble to form higher-order structures, navigate the cell with synchronized dynamics, and interact to produce a given biologic outcome. Imaging has been an integral tool in biology, allowing researchers to view the detailed molecular biology responsible for coordinating cellular life. Today, advanced imaging modalities enable the visualization of biologic specimens at a range of length scales and resolutions, in multiple dimensions (both time and space), with chemical or molecular specificity, and from the surface or bulk of the specimen, revealing the secrets of the molecular bionetwork within the cell.
The book is divided into 4 parts, each containing several chapters pertaining to a given field. Part I, with 9 chapters, covers light microscopy techniques with a special emphasis on imaging at spatial resolutions that go beyond the important Abbe (diffraction) limit. Part II, with 7 chapters, contains several established and powerful techniques in electron microscopy for high-resolution imaging of molecules, cells, and tissues, in both 2 and 3 dimensions. Part III, with 4 chapters, deals with the unique methods that reveal the advantages of scanning probe microscopy for imaging and probing macromolecular complexes and membrane surface topography. Part IV, with 5 chapters, closes the book with correlative microscopy techniques, soft x-ray tomography, and secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging. Keeping up with the tradition of the Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters are largely composed of detailed protocols describing a specific experimental procedure. Figures are mostly clear, and the tables and index are helpful.
This book is a timely volume and achieves its mission of highlighting many of the most exciting possibilities in microscopy for the investigation of biologic structures at nanolength molecular scales. I highly recommend this book to academic radiologists, imaging scientists, and molecular biologists.
Footnotes
Published online Mar. 27, 2013.
- © 2013 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Inc.