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Life
Special Issues
10th Anniversary of Life—Recent Advances in Biophysics
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10th Anniversary of Life—Recent Advances in Biophysics

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry, Biophysics and Computational Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (17 December 2020) | Viewed by 8849

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Phil Williams

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Interests: single molecule force spectroscopy; protein evolution; molecular simulation; astropharmacy; astromedicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 2020, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Life, a journal that was accepted for inclusion in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) in 2019. We would like to thank our readers, innumerable authors, anonymous peer reviewers, editors, and others who have contributed to the journal in some way over the last 10 years. Without your help, the journal would not have grown to its current level.
To mark this important milestone, a Special Issue entitled “Recent Advances in Biophysics” is being launched. This will present a collection of high quality papers in the biophysics research fields. We encourage research groups to contribute up-to-date, comprehensive papers highlighting the latest developments in biophysics. We welcome contributions that contribute to a greater understanding of the biophysics underpinning all fundamental themes in life sciences, from abiogenesis to xenobiology.

Prof. Phil Williams
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bioelectronics
  • cell biophysics and communication
  • characterization methodologies and techniques
  • membranes
  • molecular and cellular interactions
  • molecular mechanics
  • nucleic acids
  • proteins

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 8017 KiB  
Article
Nanoscopic Approach to Study the Early Stages of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) of Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial (RPE) Cells In Vitro
by Lilia A. Chtcheglova, Andreas Ohlmann, Danila Boytsov, Peter Hinterdorfer, Siegfried G. Priglinger and Claudia S. Priglinger
Life 2020, 10(8), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/life10080128 - 30 Jul 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3840
Abstract
The maintenance of visual function is supported by the proper functioning of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), representing a mosaic of polarized cuboidal postmitotic cells. Damage factors such as inflammation, aging, or injury can initiate the migration and proliferation of RPE cells, whereas [...] Read more.
The maintenance of visual function is supported by the proper functioning of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), representing a mosaic of polarized cuboidal postmitotic cells. Damage factors such as inflammation, aging, or injury can initiate the migration and proliferation of RPE cells, whereas they undergo a pseudo-metastatic transformation or an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) from cuboidal epithelioid into fibroblast-like or macrophage-like cells. This process is recognized as a key feature in several severe ocular pathologies, and is mimicked by placing RPE cells in culture, which provides a reasonable and well-characterized in vitro model for a type 2 EMT. The most obvious characteristic of EMT is the cell phenotype switching, accompanied by the cytoskeletal reorganization with changes in size, shape, and geometry. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has the salient ability to label-free explore these characteristics. Based on our AFM results supported by the genetic analysis of specific RPE differentiation markers, we elucidate a scheme for gradual transformation from the cobblestone to fibroblast-like phenotype. Structural changes in the actin cytoskeletal reorganization at the early stages of EMT lead to the development of characteristic geodomes, a finding that may reflect an increased propensity of RPE cells to undergo further EMT and thus become of diagnostic significance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Life—Recent Advances in Biophysics)
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Review

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13 pages, 2310 KiB  
Review
Ubiquitous Electron Transport in Non-Electron Transfer Proteins
by Stuart Lindsay
Life 2020, 10(5), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/life10050072 - 20 May 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4366
Abstract
Many proteins that have no known role in electron transfer processes are excellent electronic conductors. This surprising characteristic is not generally evident in bulk aggregates or crystals, or in isolated, solvated peptides, because the outer hydrophilic shell of the protein presents a barrier [...] Read more.
Many proteins that have no known role in electron transfer processes are excellent electronic conductors. This surprising characteristic is not generally evident in bulk aggregates or crystals, or in isolated, solvated peptides, because the outer hydrophilic shell of the protein presents a barrier to charge injection. Ligands that penetrate this barrier make excellent electrical contacts, yielding conductivities on the order of a S/m. The Fermi Energy of metal electrodes is aligned with the energy of internal electronic states of the protein, as evidenced by resonant transmission peaks at about 0.3V on the Normal Hydrogen Electrode scale. This energy is about 0.7 V less than the oxidation potential of aromatic amino acids, indicating a large reduction in electrostatic reorganization energy losses in the interior of the proteins. Consistent with a possible biological role for this conductance, there is a strong dependence on protein conformation. Thus, direct measurement of conductance is a powerful new way to read out protein conformation in real time, opening the way to new types of single molecule sensors and sequencing devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Life—Recent Advances in Biophysics)
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