Preface
Since the discovery of AMPK in the early 1970s, this field garnered major interests among
the scientists worldwide. Nowadays, the fundamental role of AMPK in integrating cellular
and organismal energy metabolism is well recognized. In particular, the understanding of its
upstream regulation and identification of novel downstream targets shed light on the broad
cellular functions of AMPK. As a result, AMPK attracted widespread interest as a potential
therapeutic target for the treatment of chronic metabolic diseases but also neurodegenera-
tive diseases, inflammation, and cancer. Insights gained from animal and cellular genetic
models and structure determination paved the way for the discovery of novel therapeutic
avenues and the development of small molecule direct AMPK activators.
Recognizing the expanding size of the AMPK field, full coverage of the applied techni-
ques would be truly a gigantic task. Therefore, this book provides a non-exhaustive overview
of methods. We aimed at inclusion of a wide variety of protocols from various subdisciplines.
Individual chapters are written by established experts, who developed and applied the
described promising techniques in their lab. This volume is expected to be of use to graduate
students, postdoctoral researchers, and established investigators with an interest in AMPK.
From the contents of the book, covering computational, biochemical, biophysical,
cellular, ex vivo, and in vivo AMPK protocols and inclusion of various species plus a clinical
perspective, a simple conclusion may be drawn: The AMPK field is extraordinarily rich in a
diverse research expertise that is exemplified here in a series of lab-tested protocols.
We are extremely grateful to all of the authors for their contributions. We also thank
Prof. John Walker, the MiMB series editor, for the regular guidance ultimately yielding this
volume.
Maastricht, The Netherlands Dietbert Neumann
Paris, France Benoit Viollet
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