Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics: Volume 139

Hawkes, Peter W

Recent advances in the imaging technique electron microscopy (EM) have improved the method, making it more reliable and rewarding, particularly in its description of three-dimensional detail. <i>Cellular Electron Microscopy </i>will help biologists from many disciplines understand modern EM and the value it might bring to their own work. The book's five sections deal with all major issues in EM of cells: specimen preparation, imaging in 3-D, imaging and understanding frozen-hydrated samples, labeling macromolecules, and analyzing EM data. Each chapter was written by scientists who are among the best in their field, and some chapters provide multiple points of view on the issues they discuss. Each section of the book is preceded by an introduction, which should help newcomers understand the subject. The book shows why many biologists believe that modern EM will forge the link between light microscopy of live cells and atomic resolution studies of isolated macromolecules, helping us toward the goal of an atomic resolution understanding of living systems.

Hawkes, Peter W

Jensen, Kevin

<i>Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics</i> merges two long-running serials-Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics and Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy. This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains. An important feature of these Advances is that the subjects are written in such a way that they can be understood by readers from other specialities.

This volume demonstrates how cellular and associated electron microscopy contributes to knowledge about biological structural information, primarily at the nanometer level. It presents how EM approaches complement both conventional structural biology (at the high end, angstrom level of resolution) and digital light microscopy (at the low end, 100-200 nanometers).