Membranes to Molecular Machines

How have we come to understand life and our own bodies in terms of molecular machines? This question drives Mathias Grote's fascinating inquiry. Focusing on cell membranes, channels, and pumps as paradigmatic objects of analysis and synthesis, Grote forcefully argues that there has always been more than genes to the molecular study of life. This book is a major new contribution to both the history and philosophy of recent biology and our understanding of a molecular vision of life. --Soraya de Chadarevian, University of California, Los Angeles In the 1950s and 1960s, the determination of the structure of DNA and the decipherment of the genetic code were revolutionary events in biology that have been often and well described. It is not the case for the process of molecularization of biology, which was initiated in the 1970s and transformed the whole discipline. In this book, Mathias Grote describes a lesser-known--but probably one of the most significant--episodes of this molecularization: the conversion of the monotonous structure of cellular membranes into an organized ensemble of superb macromolecular machines. It was a leap in our understanding of the functions of cellular membranes, and one that opened a door to new therapeutic approaches to numerous diseases. --Michel Morange, Centre Cavailles, Ecole Normale Superieure According to the dominant narrative in the history of biology, the most important developments in the last half of the twentieth century centered on DNA and genetics. In Membranes to Molecular Machines, Mathias Grote argues that this history omits other areas of the life sciences not illuminated by the spotlight of the DNA saga. One such area is what Grote calls the 'materialization' of membrane machines. Using the fascinating story of bacteriorhodopsin as a case study, he follows the discovery of the protein through its structural determination by electron microscopy to the description of its function as a light-stimulated proton pump. Along the way, he reviews the development of the biological membrane concept from early models to reconstitution studies, and impressively exploits interviews and the personal archives of leading investigators to construct his account. In this way, he produces a fuller and more accurate view of the history of biology in the twentieth century. --Karl Matlin, University of Chicago and the Marine Biological Laboratory Membranes to Molecular Machines is a masterful study of the hidden origins in chemical practice and an explanation of much of today's molecular biology. As Mathias Grote sheds light on how scientists unraveled molecular mechanisms related to energy, metabolism, and cognition, he expands the scope of our historical understanding and crucially enriches our theoretical armory. In giving scientists' investigations of active biomolecules center stage, and in arguing for a materialism based on chemical concepts and practices, Grote draws the lines of the historiography of the modern life sciences anew. --Carsten Reinhardt, Bielefeld University [Grote] gives structural biology time in the limelight--a break from the genetics and genomics frenzy of the modern era--and traces the history behind how the view of membranes evolved as electronic technologies gained traction among scientists. Packed with history and sprinkled with philosophical commentary, an occasional pun or two, and a smattering of German words, Membranes to Molecular Machines makes for a good read, informative and thought-pro-voking. --Small Things Considered This book opens a new chapter in the history of the life sciences of the second half of the twentieth century. To this day, much of the historiography remained centered on molecular genetics with its heroes. Mathias Grote presents a different, immensely illuminating focus. Revolving around the concepts of 'active matter' and 'molecular machinery, ' this book cannot only be read as an archaeology of nanobiology, but it is also a historically rich contribution to current debates around 'new materialism.' --Hans-Joerg Rheinberger, director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science