Mammalian Brain Development

ISBN 10: 1617796484 / ISBN 13: 9781617796487

Published by Humana Press, 2012

About this Item

pp. 244.

Seller Inventory # 2614419355

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mammalian Brain Development
• Publisher: Humana Press
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1617796484
• ISBN 13: 9781617796487
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Denis Noble Nearly a decade after completion of the first draft of the entire Human Genome sequence we are in a better position to assess the nature and the consequences of that heroic achievement, which can be seen as the culmination of the molecular biological revolution of the second half of the twentieth century. The achievement itself was celebrated at the highest levels (President and Prime Minister) on both sides of the Atlantic, and rightly so. DNA sequencing has become sufficiently c- mon now, even to the extent of being used in law courts, that it is easy to forget how technically difficult it was and how cleverly the sequencing teams solved those problems in the exciting race to finish by the turn of the century [1, 2]. The fanfares were misplaced, however, in an important respect. The metaphors used to describe the project and its biological significance gave the impression to the public at large, and to many scientists themselves, that this sequence would reveal the secrets of life. DNA had already been likened to a computer program [3]. The “genetic program” for life was therefore to be found in those sequences: A kind of map that had simply to be unfolded during development. The even more colo- ful “book of life” metaphor gave the promise that reading that book would lead to a veritable outpouring of new cures for diseases, hundreds of new drug targets, and a brave new world of medicine.

From the Back Cover

This book charts the way forward through the field of mammalian brain development, in which the integration of biological function can occur at all levels between the gene and the organism itself. Mammalian Brain Development examines the traditional "nature versus nurture" argument in the spectrum of brain development, discussing in particular sex differences in spatial perception ability, phenotype plasticity, disorders of brain development, Blood-Brain and placental barriers, chromosome abnormalities, as well as the use of imaging techniques. Geared toward neuroscientists, neurologists, pediatricians, pediatric psychiatrists, and neuroimmunologists, this volume paves the way toward the realization that the development of an individual is fundamentally an interaction between its genes and environment.