Main description:

Take any combination of the following features: supramolecular structures with a specific fluorescent probe localized as you would like; nanoscale spatial reso- tion; tailor-made molecular and/or solid-state fluorescing nanostructures; us- friendly and/or high- throughput fluorescence techniques; the ability to do wh- ever you wish with just one single (supra)molecule; utilization of non-linear optical processes; and,last but not least,physical understanding of the processes resu- ing in a (biological) functionality at the single molecule level. What you will then have is some recent progress in physics,chemistry,and the life sciences leading to the development of a new tool for research and application. This was amply demonstrated at the 8th Conference on Methods and Applications of Fluorescence: Probes,Imaging,and Spectroscopy held in Prague,the Czech Republic on August 24th-28th, 2003. This formed a crossroad of ideas from a variety of natural science and technical research fields and biomedical applications in particular.
This volume - the third book in the Springer-Verlag Series on Fluorescence - reviews some of the most characteristic topics of the multidisciplinary area of fluorescence applications in life sciences either presendted directly at th 8th MAF Conference or considered to be a cruical development in the field. In the initial contribution in Part 1 - Basics and Advanced Approaches,the - itors explain the basics of fluorescence and illustrate the relationship between some modern fluorescence techniques and classical approaches. The second contrigution by B.

Contents:

Part 1: Fluorescence Spectroscopy: Basics and Advanced Approaches,- 1. M. Hof, V. Fidler, R. Hutterer: Basics of Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Bio-sciences .- 2. B. Valeur: Pulse, Phase Fluorimetries: An Objective Comparison .- 3. S. Kalinin, M. Isaksson, L.B.-A. Johansson: Non-exponential Fluorescence of Electronically Coupled Donors Contain Distance Information .- 4. O.J. Rolinski, D.J.S. Birch: Fluorescence Nanatomography: Recent Progress, Constraints and Opportunities .- 5. J. Sykora, R. Hutterer, M. Hof: Solvent Relaxation as a Tool for Probing Micro-polarity and -fluidity .- 6. N.L. Thompson, J.K. Pero: Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy: Applications in Biophysics .- 7. J. Enderlein: Single Molecule Spectroscopy: Basics and Applications.- Part 2: Application of Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Biological Membranes.- 8. G. Duportail: Rafts Microdomains in Model Membranes as Revealed by Fluorescence Quenching .- 9. L.A. Bagatolli: The Lateral Structure of Lipid Membranes as Seen by Fluorescence Microscopy .- Part 3: Application of Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Protein Studies.- 10. A. Saxena, J.B. Udgaonkar, G. Krishnamoorthy: Protein Dynamics and Protein Folding Dynamics Revealed by Time-Resolved Fluorescence .- 11. J. Azoulay, S. Bernacchi, H. Beltz, J.-P. Clamme, E. Piemont, E. Schaub, D. Ficheux, B. Roques, J.-L. Darlix, Y. Mely: Time-resolved Fluorescence and Two-photon FCS Investigation of the Interaction of HIV-1 Nucleocapsid Protein with Hairpin Loop Oligonucleotides.- Part 4: Application of Fluorescence Spectroscopy to DNA and Drug Delivery.- 12. N. Adjimatera, A.P. Neal, I.S. Blagbrough: Fluorescence Techniques in Non-viral Gene Therapy .- 13. K. Bryl, M. Langner: Fluorescence Applications in Targeted Drug Delivery.- Part 5: Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Cells: FCS and Quantum Dots.- 14. R. Brock: Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy in Cell Biology .- 15. M.R. Warnement, S.J. Rosenthal: Fluorescent Quantum Dots: Properties andApplications .- 16. O. Minet, C. Dressler, J. Beuthan: Heat Stress of Cancer Cells: Fluorescence Imaging of Structural Changes with Quantum DotsTM 605 and AlexaTM 488