Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Molecular Biology

Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity.

This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry.

Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between the different types of DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.

Writing in Nature in 1961, William Astbury described molecular biology as
not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and [...] is predominantly three-dimensional and structural—which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology. It must at the same time inquire into genesis and function.
wikipedia introduction

The following list borrowed from "What is Molecular Biology?" page gives us laymen some idea of the kind of research that is currently going on in the field:


Recent Molecular Biology News

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