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DOI: 10.1201/9781003336433-7

7

Complementary

Experimental Tools

Valuable Experimental Methods that

Complement Mainstream Research

Biophysics Techniques

Anything found to be true of E. coli must also be true of elephants.

—​Jacques Monod, 1954 (from Friedmann, 2004)

General Idea: There are several important accessory experimental methods that complement

techniques of biophysics, many of which are invaluable to the efficient functioning of biophys­

ical methods. They include controllable chemical techniques for gluing biological matter to

substrates, the use of “model” organisms, genetic engineering tools, crystal preparation for

structural biology studies, and a range of bulk sample methods, including some of relevance to

biomedicine.

7.1  INTRODUCTION

The key importance for a student of physics with regard to learning aspects of biophysical

tools and technique is to understand the physics involved. However, the devil is often in the

detail, and the details of many biophysical methods include the application of techniques that

are not directly biophysical as such, but which are still invaluable, and sometimes essential, to

the optimal functioning of the biophysical tool. In this chapter, we discuss the key details of

these important, complementary approaches. We also include a discussion of the applications

of biophysics in biomedical techniques. There are several textbooks dedicated to expert-​level

medical physics technologies; however, what we do here is highlight the important biophys­

ical features of these to give the reader a basic all-​round knowledge of how biophysics tools

are applied to clinically relevant questions.

7.2  BIOCONJUGATION

Bioconjugation is an important emerging field of research in its own right. New methods

for chemical derivatization of all the major classes of biomolecules have been developed,

many with a significant level of specificity. As we have seen from the earlier chapters in this

book that outline experimental biophysics tools, bioconjugation finds several applications

in biophysical techniques, especially those requiring molecular level precision, for example,

labeling biomolecules with a specific fluorophore tag or EM marker, conjugating a molecule