Fluorescent probes are essential for the exploration of protein function, detection of molecular interactions, and conformational changes. The nitrilotriacetic acid derivatives of different chromophores were successfully used for site-selective noncovalent fluorescence labeling of histidine-tagged proteins. All of them, however, suffer from the same drawback--loss of the fluorescence upon bindi...

Affinity tags have become powerful tools from basic biological research to structural and functional proteomics. They were widely used to facilitate the purification and detection of proteins of interest, as well as the separation of protein complexes. Here, we mainly discuss the benefits and drawbacks of several affinity or epitope tags frequently used, including hexahistidine tag, FLAG tag, S...

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Prof. Paolo Massazza, my first algorithm professor, for the supervision of the final drafting of the thesis and his precious suggestions; I also would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Jyrki Katajainen, coau-thor of the two articles presented in the thesis, for what he taught me, his constant encouragements and all the time he dedicated to our collabor...

GEOFFREY KEYNES, The gates ofmemory, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981, 8vo, pp. xi, 428, illus., £12.50. An autobiographer unveiling his self-portrait can pick an excuse from a wide variety, ranging from the sincere attempt to entertain his friends to a sackcloth-and-ashes apologia pro sua vita. Sir Geoffrey Keynes, by borrowing from Blake his title, invites us to look upon his real self, a self t...

“I have endeavoured to guard myself against the enthusiastic prejudice which holds that our civilization is the most precious thing that we possess or could acquire and that its path will necessarily lead to heights of unimagined perfection... One thing only do I know for certain and that is that man’s judgments of value follow directly his wishes for happiness—that, accordingly, they are an at...