Introduction: the structural basis of virus function.- The basic architecture of viruses.- Conventional electron microscopy, cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography of viruses.- X-ray crystallography of viruses.- Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study virus structure.- Fluorescence, circular dichroism and mass spectrometry as tools to study virus structure.- Combined approaches to study virus structure.- Atomic force microscopy of viruses.- Optical tweezers to study viruses.- Assembly of simple icosahedral viruses.- Structure and assembly of complex viruses.- Nucleic acid packaging in viruses.- Virus maturation.- Virus morphogenesis in the cell: methods and observations.- Virus-receptor interactions and receptor-mediated virus entry into host cells.- Entry of enveloped viruses into host cells: membrane fusion.- Bacteriophage receptor recognition and nucleic acid transfer.- Mechanical properties of viruses.- Theoretical studies on assembly, physical stabilityand dynamics of viruses.- Antiviral agents: Structural basis of action and rational design.- Design of novel vaccines based on virus-like particles or chimeric virions.- Nanoscale science and technology with plant viruses and bacteriophages.

Structural Virology is today an all-important scientific discipline that permeates most other virological disciplines. The application of physical and physicochemical techniques has led to the determination of the high-resolution molecular structures of many viruses. The interplay of this approach with biochemical and biological approaches has allowed the elucidation of the structural basis of viral function in unprecedented detail. In addition, in the last years theoretical and experimental physicists have begun to tackle a fundamental physics-based approach to study different aspects of the architecture, self-assembly and material properties of virus particles. A new term, Physical Virology, has recently been coined to encompass these and related studies. This approach is beginning to merge with long-standing structural virology approaches to provide a renewed and richer view on viruses, as well as further advances in the fight against viral disease and the applications of viruses in biotechnology and nanotechnology.

Structure and Physics of Viruses is an interdisciplinary textbook in which the rapidly expanding fields of structural and physical virology are dealt with in an integrated way. The authors have attempted to write a book basic enough to be useful to students, as well as advanced and current enough to be useful to senior scientists. This book is aimed first at M.Sc. students, Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers with a university degree in biology, chemistry, physics or related sciences who share an interest or are actually working on viruses. It is aimed also at providing an updated account of many important concepts, techniques, studies and applications in structural and physical virology for established scientists working on viruses, irrespective of their physical, chemical or biological background and their field of expertise.