Precision and Accuracy in Biological Crystallography, Diffraction, Scattering, Microscopies, and Spectroscopies

Newcomers to the field of structural biology, which aims to understand life at the molecular level, see a vast number of existing results and are faced with a diverse range of experimental methods. These are used singly or in various combinations, however the uncertainties of the results found are unfortunately not fully assessed.

Beginning with the basic physics of describing systematic and random errors, this book aims to explore these uncertainties, by examining the accuracy of each experimental method used to determine a 3D biological macromolecule structure and its dynamics, and their various possible combinations. The book also discusses the uncertainties in our determination of atomic positions in our static structures, and our analysis of the living cell.

Aimed at graduate students from a wide range of science disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, this book provides an overview of the topic of precision and accuracy in biological crystallography, diffraction, scattering, microscopies, and spectroscopies.

John R. Helliwell, Emeritus Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester

John R. Helliwell studied physics at the University of York and obtained a PhD from the University of Oxford in 1978. For many years he was closely associated with the Synchrotron Radiation Source at Daresbury Laboratory, while also holding positions at the University of Keele, the University of York and the University of Manchester, where he is now an Emeritus Professor. His research has contributed to over 100 Protein Data Bank crystal structure depositions spanning enzymes, lectins and crustacyanins with ligands such as saccharides, carotenoids and metallodrugs or metalloimaging agents. In 2014 he was awarded the A. L. Patterson Award by the American Crystallographic Association and in 2015 he was awarded the Max Perutz Prize by the European Crystallographic Association. He is a Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Royal Society of Biology.