TABLE OF CONTENTS Biochemistry, the study of the chemical basis of life, and biophysics, the study of the physical basis of life, are both exciting, active fields of research. There are a number of reasons for this excitement. The first is probably that scientists understand the chemical basis of many of life s central processes. For example, the fundamentals of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and how it relates to both the genetics and the physical properties of the organism are well known. A second reason is the commonality of all life on earth. All known organisms use the same building blocks to form the molecules of life and apparently use adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as part of their energy cycles. [1] Thus, the chemical processes at the core of an organism s metabolism (at least on earth) are universal. Furthermore, our growing knowledge of the relationship between disease states and their biochemical and biophysical underpinnings has allowed the development of diagnostic probes, new medicines, and disease treatments. These developments allow scientists to begin to study some of the most fundamental problems of biology, including how cell differentiation takes place, the causes of cancer, and the molecular basis of memory and mental illness, just to name a few. Finally, the emerging field of proteomics [2] is leading to an understanding, on the molecular level, of how genes work , and how proteins interact and work inside cells. In part, this complex science is currently driving the next generation of supercomputers.
Like understanding liquid crystals and...
