Every organism must consume energy to survive. The food we eat is ultimately converted into chemical fuel for our cells, and the availability (or non-availability) of these fuels determines whether cells may grow and divide or starve and die. Not surprisingly, the energy metabolism is a key factor in sustaining or blocking the unlimited growth of cancer cells. In this first integrated view, practically each of the world's leading experts has contributed to this one and only authoritative resource on the topic. Following an introduction, they go on to discuss the basic principles, organization and dynamics of cellular energetics, as well as energy transfer networks, metabolic feedback regulation and modeling, finishing off with a section on applied molecular system bioenergetics. With its combination of systems biology and cellular energetics, this is an invaluable reference for biochemists, biophysicists, cell and molecular biologists, as well as bioengineers.
About the Author
Valdur Saks is Professor of Bioenergetics and Biochemistry at the University of Grenoble, France, and Head of the Laboratory of Bioenergetics at the National Institute of Chemical and Biological Physics in Tallinn, Estonia. A graduate of Moscow University, he was the long-time head of the Laboratory of Cardiac Bioenergetics in Moscow, Russia, before taking up his present positions. Professor Saks has authored over 220 scientific publications and has received numerous scientific awards, including the USSR State Prize in Science and the Internatinoal "Research and Development" Award sponsored by the U.N. and UNICEF. He is a member of the International Society for Heart Research and of the American Physiological and Biophysical Societies.
