From quantum mechanics to drug discovery in one semester

Molecular biophysics and structural biology are founded on physics, chemistry, and biology, yet few textbooks integrate these disciplines within a coherent single-semester framework. Introduction to Biophysics and Structural Biology provides a structured progression from foundational principles through to biological function and real-world applications including renewable energy and drug and vaccine design, equipping readers from diverse scientific backgrounds to work at the molecular level.

Readers will find:

• The major experimental techniques for determining biological structures, including X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and NMR
• An explanation of artificial intelligence tools and their applications
• Basics of quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics
• Molecular dynamics simulation
• Modern concepts of protein function and folding
• The dynamical picture of ligand binding, allostery, intrinsically disordered proteins and biomolecular condensates
• Membrane processes, such as G-protein coupled receptors, ion channels, and light-driven proteins
• Large biological complexes, such as the ribosome, ATP synthase and spliceosome
• Bioenergy and biomaterials
• Drug discovery, including real-world case studies connecting molecular-level principles to active research in cancer therapeutics and infectious disease drug development
• Problem sets for each chapter

Designed for a wide range of students – including from biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, physics and biotechnology – taking a one-semester course, this textbook builds interdisciplinary competence from the ground up. While avoiding complex mathematics, the book concentrates on chemical and physical principles describing the detailed molecular machinery of life. Lecturers will find a logical chapter sequence that moves from theory to technique to application, supporting both classroom instruction and independent study.

Jeremy C. Smith is the director of the Center for Molecular Biophysics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and holds the Governor’s Chair at the University of Tennessee. A computational molecular biophysicist with over 500 scientific articles, Smith has led research groups in France, Germany, and the U.S. His team has made major discoveries in protein science, supercomputing, neutron scattering, renewable energy and the design of drugs and vaccines. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.