Description
Mc Graw Hill India Biology For Engineers (PB) by Tmh
Biology for Engineers is intended for undergraduate and graduate-level students in the field of engineering and technology, and engineers pursuing interdisciplinary projects in biomedical sciences interested in learning about basic biology. Cells are the basic units of life and various organelles within the cell perform a variety of functions including metabolism, homeostasis, protein synthesis, cell division, etc. Since the discovery of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by Watson and Crick (1953), key advances have been made in knowing the working of the cell through molecular biology techniques. Enzymes which are proteinacious in nature are capable of hastening the chemical reactions involved in cellular metabolism and also, mediate important functions in the body. The first three chapters, therefore, provide basic biological concepts at the cellular level. The fourth chapter focuses on the possible links that can happen between biology and engineering and technology especially, nanomachines, biosensor, and bioremediation. Understanding some of the naturally-occurring nanotechnological marvels within the body such as enzyme, ATP synthase and bacterila flagellar motor will help us design and build similar nanomachines. Biosensors and bioremediation are novel research areas where medical and environmental biotechnology is involved to solve the problems of diagnosis of diseases and environmental pollution, respectively. In the final chapter, the focus is on two important organ systems, nervous system and immune system, in mediating certain salient functions of the cells such as homeostasis in response to environment. Another key concept of cell signaling in response to changes in the environment is also discussed. Special interest boxes have been added to focus on the influence of engineering subjects that have made key contributions to the advancement of biology such as electron microscope in the identification of cell orgnalles (Chapter 1), computer programming to Human genome project (Chapter 2), concepts of nervous system to artificial intelligence network (Chpater 5), etc. The objectives of these special interest boxes are to emphasize the importance of engineering fields in the advancement of biological sciences and stimulate a dialogue between engineers and biomedical scientists in order to find solutions several problems that confront mankind. Short summary points have been listed at the end of each chapter to consolidate major concepts and provide a brief overview of the chapter. This may be of help to reinforce the basic ideals and revise at the time of examinations. Illustrations in this book were drawn by Mr. M. K. Jaganathan using his excellent skills in computer graphics. We acknowledge the work of all the scientists whose research efforts have contributed to the field of biology.