Developmental Biology

Developmental Biology, Seventh Edition captures the richness, the intellectual excitement, and the wonder of contemporary developmental biology. It is written primarily for undergraduate biology majors but will be useful for introducing graduate students and medical students to developmental biology. In addition to exploring and synthesizing the organismal, cellular, and molecular aspects of animal development, the Seventh Edition expands its coverage of the medical, environmental, and evolutionary aspects of developmental biology.

FEATURES OF THE SEVENTH EDITION

A completely updated text integrates classical developmental biology with contemporary techniques, including the new material on vertebrate limb cell specification, microarrays, RNA interference, microtubular motors, floxed genes, vertebra formation, neural crest differentiation, neural crest specification, heart cell specification, herbicide-induced gonadal disruptions, pancreatic development, digit determination, tadpole deiodinases, insulin-like growth factors, developmental symbioses, and the developmental origins of feathers, jaws, and teeth during evolution.

A new chapter on medical implications of developmental biology • The news is full of developmental biology and its medical implications. Therapeutic cloning and cancer therapies, in vitro fertilization, congenital anomalies, and teratogenesis are major concerns not only of scientists but of all citizens. Chapter 21, "Medical Implications of Human Development," brings these topics together and discusses:

* the regulation of fertility
* the identification of genetic defects that affect development
* the identification of teratogenic compounds that affect development
* the identification of factors in the maternal environment which may influence the health of the fetus or the adult
* the realization that cancers can be disruptions of developmental regulation and might be cured through developmental processes
* the attempts to cure developmental diseases (including cancers) through detection, cloning, stem cell therapy, and genetic engineering
* the attempt to cure traumatic and degenerative disease through regeneration.

SCOTT F.GILBERT is Howard A.Schneiderman Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College and teaches developmental biology, developmental genetics and the history of biology