Proteins are essential to life, having a vital role in all living organisms. They are the ultimate micro machines: some are building blocks, joining with other substances to make the cells from which we are all formed. Some are catalysts, speeding up essential biochemical reactions to keep our cells alive. Yet others help cells to communicate, to move, and to build up the complex mix of tissues that make up our bodies. Introduction to Protein Science provides a broad ranging introduction to the contemporary study of proteins suitable for students on biosciences degrees internationally. Starting by describing the structure of proteins and how these structures can be studied, the book goes on to illustrate the wide range of functions that proteins have, showing how the shape of a protein is intimately linked to the function that it has. The book then describes how new experimental and computational techniques are helping us to predict a protein s structure and function, and how this is paving the way for us to design new proteins with specific characteristics, with exciting implications in areas such as drug design. Written by Arthur Lesk, the author of the highly successful Introduction to Bioinformatics, this book offers the same clear, student friendly approach to an equally important area of bioscience. Recent advances in genomics and proteomics have paved the way for an explosion of interest in protein structure and function. This book captures the current state of excitement in a way that all biosciences students will find appealing. Online Resource Centre: - Downloadable figures - A Web link library - Animated illustrations (pictures of complicated structures are much more effective if presented as animations; this will take the form of a computer-readable supplement to the book). All these will be available on the Online Resource Centre at www.oup.com/uk/booksites/biosciences/

Dr. Arthur Lesk is a Senior Research Associate, Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge.