Oxford Desk Reference

A popular and easy-to-use guide, this book is a must-have tool for clinical consultations in genetics and genomic medicine.

Ideal for quick reference during practice, it covers the process of diagnosis, investigation, management, and counselling for patients. With a strong evidence base and international guidelines, it puts reliable and trustworthy guidance at your fingertips. Designed for use as a first-line guide, the A to Z format ensures it's accessible, and the simple layout makes it easy to assimilate information. Highly illustrated, the book also contains up-to-date glossaries of terms used in genetics and dysmorphology providing quick reference for key concepts.

The second edition is an eagerly anticipated update of the gold standard in the specialty. It covers new developments in the field, particularly the advent of genome-wide sequencing and major updates in cancer. Fifteen new topics have been added, including Sudden cardiac death, Neonatal screening, and Ciliopathies.

The authors have used their experience to devise a practical clinical approach to many common genetic referrals, both outpatient and ward based. The most common Mendelian disorders, chromosomal disorders, congenital anomalies and syndromes are all covered, and where available diagnostic criteria are included. In addition there are chapters on familial cancer and pregnancy-related topics such as fetal anomalies, teratogens, prenatal and pre-implantation diagnosis and non-invasive prenatal testing. The book also provides information on the less common situations where management is particularly complex.

Both practical and pertinent, Oxford Desk Reference: Clinical Genetics and Genomics is the companion you need by your side during clinical consultations.

Helen V. Firth, Consultant in Clinical Genetics, Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge, UK and Hon Faculty Member, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Jane A. Hurst, Consultant in Clinical Genetics, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK

Dr Helen Firth, DM FRCP DCH is a Consultant Clinical Geneticist at Cambridge University Hospitals, an Honorary Faculty Member of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and a Bye-Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge. Her main research interests are in mapping the clinical genome and the matching of rare genomic variants to empower discovery and diagnosis in rare disease.

In 2004, she initiated the DECIPHER project (http://decipher.sanger.ac.uk) that enables clinicians and scientists around the world to share information about rare genomic variants to facilitate diagnosis and help to elucidate the role of genes whose function is not yet known. In 2010 Dr Firth became Clinical Lead for the Deciphering Developmental Disorders study (DDD study) (http://www.ddduk.org), one of the world's largest nationwide, genome-wide sequencing projects in rare disease. The study aims to improve diagnosis and further understanding of the genomic architecture of severe developmental disorders.

Dr Jane Hurst is a clinician working full time as a clinical geneticist in the one of the leading children's hospitals in the world; a centre of excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases. She moved to her current post in 2010 to lead the dysmorphology service after 18 years working in Oxford, UK.

Although primarily a patient-focussed clinician, she has always worked closely with scientific colleagues by identifying families that give important clues to the genetic aetiology. Thus early in her career she identified the first family shown to have leptin deficiency and the two families that led to the cloning of the FOXP2 gene.