Soft Matter

The only major book publication on this topic, the Soft Matter series represents comprehensive coverage for readers from chemical, materials science, physical, and biological backgrounds. It carefully collates the must-have interdisciplinary information otherwise only found in textbooks or very specialized proceeding-type books. Encompassing both fundamental research as well as application potential, this field is significant for both academia as well as industry. This fourth volume in the series focuses on biological membrane science, in particular its biophysics. Clearly divided into two parts, the first covers red blood cell shapes, while the second part on molecular simulation provides in-depth information on how to make significant progress with membrane characterization by means of models, and how to refine them by comparing them to experiments. The result is a highly relevant monograph for both an understanding of the biophysical concepts as well as of novel applications. Gerhard Gompper studied physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, where he received his PhD under Herbert Wagner. After a postdoctoral stay with Michael Schick at the University of Washington in Seattle, he returned to Munich to gain his lecturing qualification. An assignment as a staff scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute for Colloid- and Interface Science in Berlin-Teltow from 1994 to 1999 preceded his joint appointment as a director at the Institute for Solid-State Physics at the Research Center Juelich and as a full professor at the University of Cologne. He was recently honored with the Erwin-Schroedinger Award for interdisciplinary research on the efficiency-boosting effect of amphiphilic polymers in microemulsions. Michael Schick obtained his PhD in physics at Stanford University under Felix Bloch. After a post-doctoral position with Paul Zilsel at Case Western Reserve University, he joined the faculty of the University of Washington in 1969. His interests have included phase transitions in lower dimensional systems, wetting phenomena, microemulsions, the phase behavior of block copolymers and of lipids, and the fusion of biological membranes. He has been honored with a fellowship from the American Physical Society, and a Humboldt Foundation Research Award spent at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, where he worked with Gerhard Gompper.Gompper, Gerhard is the author of 'Soft Matter' with ISBN 9783527315024 and ISBN 3527315020.