Signalling within and between cells is one of the most important aspects of modern biochemistry and cell biology. An understanding of signalling pathways is vital to a wide range of biologists, from those who are investigating the causes of cancer, to those who are concerned about the impact of environmental pollutants on the ecosystem. The way cells adapt to changing environments, and the way cell dysfunction causes disease, is underpinned by cell signalling events. Cell Signalling presents a carefully structured and highly accessible introduction to this intricate and rapidly growing field. Starting with an overview of cell signalling and highlighting its importance in many biological systems, the book goes on to explore the key components of extracellular and intracellular signalling mechanisms, before examining how these components come together to create signalling pathways. A focus on common components and concepts, rather than mechanistic detail, allows the reader to gain a thorough understanding of the principles that underpin cell signalling. Online Resource Centre The Online Resource Centre to accompany Cell Signalling features: For students: - Links to useful websites For registered adopters of the text: - Journal Clubs: suggested research papers and discussion questions linked to topics featured in the book - Figures from the book in electronic format for use in lectures

The new field of evolutionary developmental biology is one of the most exciting areas of contemporary biology. The fundamental principle of evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo") is that evolution acts through inherited changes in the development of the organism. "Evo-devo" is not merely a fusion of the fields of developmental and evolutionary biology, the grafting of a developmental perspective onto evolutionary biology, or the incorporation of an evolutionary perspective into developmental biology. Evo-devo strives for a unification of genomic, developmental, organismal, population, and natural selection approaches to evolutionary change. It draws from development, evolution, paleontology, ecology, and molecular and systematic biology, but has its own set of questions, approaches, and methods.

"Keywords and Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology" is the first comprehensive reference work for this expanding field. Covering more than fifty central terms and concepts in entries written by leading experts, Keywords offers an overview of all that is embraced by this new subdiscipline of biology, providing the core insights and ideas that show how embryonic development relates to life-history evolution, adaptation, and responses to and integration with environmental factors.

Representing the state of the art in evolutionary paleobiology, this book provides a much-needed overview of this rapidly changing field. An influx of ideas and techniques both from other areas of biology and from within paleobiology itself have resulted in numerous recent advances, including increased recognition of the relationships between ecological and evolutionary theory, renewed vigor in the study of ecological communities over geologic timescales, increased understanding of biogeographical patterns, and new mathematical approaches to studying the form and structure of plants and animals.
Contributors to this volume--a veritable who's who of eminent researchers--present the results of original research and new theoretical developments, and provide directions for future studies. Individually wide ranging, these papers all share a debt to the work of James W. Valentine, one of the founders of modern evolutionary paleobiology. This volume's unified approach to the study of life on earth will be a major contribution to paleobiology, evolution, and ecology.

Rudolf Raff is recognized as a pioneer in evolutionary developmental biology. In their 1983 book, "Embryos, Genes, and Evolution," Raff and co-author Thomas Kaufman proposed a synthesis of developmental and evolutionary biology. In "The Shape of Life," Raff analyzes the rise of this new experimental discipline and lays out new research questions, hypotheses, and approaches to guide its development.
Raff uses the evolution of animal body plans to exemplify the interplay between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary patterns. Animal body plans emerged half a billion years ago. Evolution within these body plans during this span of time has resulted in the tremendous diversity of living animal forms.
Raff argues for an integrated approach to the study of the intertwined roles of development and evolution involving phylogenetic, comparative, and functional biology. This new synthesis will interest not only scientists working in these areas, but also paleontologists, zoologists, morphologists, molecular biologists, and geneticists.

One in two of us will develop cancer at some point in our lives and yet many of us don't understand how cancers arise. How many different kinds of cancer are there? What treatments are available? What does the future hold in terms of developing new therapies? This book demystifies cancer by explaining the underlying cell and molecular biology in a clear and accessible style. It answers the questions commonly asked about cancer such as what causes cancer and how cancer develops. It explains how DNA makes proteins and how mutations can corrupt those proteins. It also gives an overview of current therapies and how treatments may advance over the next decades, as well as explaining what actions we can take to help prevent cancer developing. Understanding Cancer is an accessible and engaging introduction to cancer biology for any interested reader.

Developmental biology is seemingly well understood, with development widely accepted as being a series of programmed changes through which an egg turns into an adult organism, or a seed matures into a plant. However, the picture is much more complex than that: is it all genetically controlled or does environment have an influence? Is the final adult stage the target of development and everything else just a build-up to that point? Are developmental strategies the same in plants as in animals? How do we consider development in single-celled organisms? In this concise, engaging volume, Alessandro Minelli, a leading developmental biologist, addresses these key questions. Using familiar examples and easy-to-follow arguments, he offers fresh alternatives to a number of preconceptions and stereotypes, awakening the reader to the disparity of developmental phenomena across all main branches of the tree of life.

'Quite simply the best book about science and life that I have ever read' - Alice Roberts How does life begin? What drives a newly fertilized egg to keep dividing and growing until it becomes 40 trillion cells, a greater number than stars in the galaxy? How do these cells know how to make a human, from lips to heart to toes? How does your body build itself? Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz was pregnant at 42 when a routine genetic test came back with that dreaded word: abnormal. A quarter of sampled cells contained abnormalities and she was warned her baby had an increased risk of being miscarried or born with birth defects. Six months later she gave birth to a healthy baby boy and her research on mice embryos went on to prove that - as she had suspected - the embryo has an amazing and previously unknown ability to correct abnormal cells at an early stage of its development. The Dance of Life will take you inside the incredible world of life just as it begins and reveal the wonder of the earliest and most profound moments in how we become human. Through Magda's trailblazing research as a professor at Cambridge - where she has doubled the survival time of human embryos in the laboratory, and made the first artificial embryo-like structures from stem cells - you'll discover how early life is programmed to repair and organise itself, what this means for the future of pregnancy, and how we might one day solve IVF disorders, prevent miscarriages and learn more about the dance of life as it starts to take shape. The Dance of Life is a moving celebration of the balletic beauty of life's beginnings.

The book provides a comprehensive overview of classic and modern approaches of centrosome research, including new aspects of centrosome functions focusing on primary cilia and their implications in numerous diseases. In addition, several chapters raise awareness of centrosomes in areas that have not yet fully considered the centrosome as an organelle that impacts other organelle functions directly or indirectly. It further relates centrosome functions to other research areas such as aging and stem cell research. Since its discovery almost 150 years ago the centrosome is increasingly being recognized as a most impactful organelle for its role, not only as primary microtubule organizing center (MTOC) but also as a major communication center for signal transduction pathways and as a center for proteolytic activities. Its significance for cell cycle regulation has been well studied and we now also know that centrosome dysfunctions are implicated in numerous diseases and disorders including cancer, cystic diseases of the kidney, liver fibrosis, cardiac defects, obesity and several other diseases and disorders. This new volume reviews the latest advances in the field and provides valuable background information that is readily understandable for the newcomer and the experienced centrosome researcher alike. Due to the interdisciplinary of the subject, it is a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians working in biomedical research, cell biology, cancer biology, reproduction and developmental biology, neuroscience and stem cell research.

Leading gender and science scholar Sarah S. Richardson charts the untold history of the idea that a woman's health and behavior during pregnancy can have long-term effects on her descendants' health and welfare. The idea that a woman may leave a biological trace on her gestating offspring has long been a commonplace folk intuition and a matter of scientific intrigue, but the form of that idea has changed dramatically over time. Beginning with the advent of modern genetics at the turn of the twentieth century, biomedical scientists dismissed any notion that a mother-except in cases of extreme deprivation or injury-could alter her offspring's traits. Consensus asserted that a child's fate was set by a combination of its genes and post-birth upbringing. Over the last fifty years, however, this consensus was dismantled, and today, research on the intrauterine environment and its effects on the fetus is emerging as a robust program of study in medicine, public health, psychology, evolutionary biology, and genomics. Collectively, these sciences argue that a woman's experiences, behaviors, and physiology can have life-altering effects on offspring development. Tracing a genealogy of ideas about heredity and maternal-fetal effects, this book offers a critical analysis of conceptual and ethical issues-in particular, the staggering implications for maternal well-being and reproductive autonomy-provoked by the striking rise of epigenetics and fetal origins science in postgenomic biology today.

Developmental Biology and Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering: Principles and Applications focuses on the regeneration of orthopedic tissue, drawing upon expertise from developmental biologists specializing in orthopedic tissues and tissue engineers who have used and applied developmental biology approaches. Musculoskeletal tissues have an inherently poor repair capacity, and thus biologically-based treatments that can recapitulate the native tissue properties are desirable. Cell- and tissue-based therapies are gaining ground, but basic principles still need to be addressed to ensure successful development of clinical treatments. Written as a source of information for practitioners and those with a nascent interest, it provides background information and state-of-the-art solutions and technologies. Recent developments in orthopedic tissue engineering have sought to recapitulate developmental processes for tissue repair and regeneration, and such developmental-biology based approaches are also likely to be extremely amenable for use with more primitive stem cells.

"Although I have been basically an academic for most of my life, the way I got there has taken some surprising turns." An unsuspected ancestry, playing in WW2 London, comical schooldays, and a spell in colonial Africa are just a few of the childhood moments described in John Staddon's memoir The Englishman. This is not just another transatlantic autobiography from a British working-class kid who made his name in the USA. It's a witty and entertaining romp through the subject he has made his own. By way of his wide-ranging interests in biology, artificial intelligence, economics, philosophy and behavioural neuroscience, John Staddon introduces and explores his most important work on how animals learn. He discusses the exciting field of behavioural psychobiology, explains theoretical research on choice and interval timing and debates so-called superstition in the learned behaviour of pigeons, rats, fish - and people. The Englishman is an entertaining life story interwoven with expansive thoughts on the fascinating field of behavioural psychology.

This 4th edition of the "Mouse Manual"-Manipulating the Mouse Embryo-appears 28 years after the first edition and once again is the definitive reference source on mouse development, transgenesis techniques, and molecular biology. Authors Richard Behringer, Marina Gertsenstein, Kristina Nagy, and Andras Nagy-pre-emininent leaders in their fields-have reorganized and updated this edition to include new information and protocols on: * assisted reproduction techniques for sperm and embryo cryopreservation * generation of induced pluripotent stem cells * isolation, generation, and transplantation of spermatogonial stem cell lines * in utero electroporation of gene constructs into post- implantation embryos * vibratome sectioning of live and fixed tissues for imaging thick tissue sections * whole-mount fluorescent staining methods for three-dimensional visualization. Techniques regarding recombinant DNA technology and mouse embryonic development from the previous editions have been updated and recast, as has the wealth of information on mouse laboratory strains, mouse housing and breeding, surgical procedures, assisted reproduction, handling of embryos, and micromanipulation setups. The first edition of Manipulating the Mouse Embryo appeared in 1986 as an outgrowth of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory courses on the molecular embryology of the mouse held in the early 1980s, and authors of the first two editions included Brigid Hogan, Rosa Beddington, Frank Costantini, and Liz Lacy. Mouse embryo manipulation techniques have developed exponentially since the first edition, but then, as now, Manipulating the Mouse Embryo remains the essential practical and theoretical guide for anyone working with mice-students, lab technicians, and investigators.

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2008 im Fachbereich Biologie - Entwicklungsbiologie, Note: 1,7, Universitat Konstanz (Fachbereich Geschichte und Soziologie), Veranstaltung: PS: Sozialdarwinismus, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: 1859 erschien "On The Origin Of Species" von Charles Darwin. Dieses revolutionare Werk des englischen Naturwissenschaftlers hatte grosse Auswirkungen auf alle Bereiche des menschlichen Lebens, da es in der Folge von Wissenschaftlern und Ideologen intensiv analysiert und diskutiert wurde. Eine Reihe von vor allem englischen und deutschen Theoretikern, die sog. Sozialdarwinisten, versuchten die Erkenntnisse Darwins aus der Natur auf die menschliche Gesellschaft zu ubertragen. Darwin erklarte mit seiner Theorie die Entwicklung der Arten. ...] Seine Entdeckungen erschutterten die Menschen und schockierten sie zutiefst. Mit der Erklarung, gemeinsame Vorfahren mit der Tierwelt zu haben, wurde die Menschheit von der Krone der Schopfung gestossen. Die Existenz eines Schopfers wurde somit in Frage gestellt und damit einhergehend geriet die gesamte gottliche Ordnung ins Wanken. ...] Was aber sollte nun das Ziel menschlichen Handelns sein, wenn nicht das Erreichen des Paradies durch ein irdisches Leben nach den christlichen Geboten? Worin lag der Sinn des Lebens, wenn nicht in einem besserem Leben nach dem Tod? Wer an die Entwicklungslehre glaubte, musste notwendigerweise eine neue Ordnung etablieren, die sich an ihren Erkenntnissen ausrichtete. Ein besonders radikaler Vertreter der Entwicklungslehre des Menschen war der deutsche Alexander Tille (1866-1912). Auch er suchte nach einem neuen Lebensinhalt, nach neuen Zielen, nach denen der Mensch streben sollte, die im Einklang mit der Entwicklungslehre stehen mussten. Fest stand fur Tille, dass sich die Entwicklungslehre nicht mit der herrschenden christlich-human-demokratischen Ethik verbinden liess. Deshalb galt es ihm eine neue Ethik zu schaffen, eine Entwicklungsethik, die den Menschen neue Normen des Hande

The rhythm of life on Earth includes several strong themes contributed by Kingdom Fungi. So why are fungi ignored when theorists ponder the origin of life? Casting aside common theories that life originated in an oceanic primeval soup, in a deep, hot place, or even a warm little pond, this is a mycological perspective on the emergence of life on Earth. The author traces the crucial role played by the first biofilms - products of aerosols, storms, volcanic plumes and rainout from a turbulent atmosphere - which formed in volcanic caves 4 billion years ago. Moore describes how these biofilms contributed to the formation of the first prokaryotic cells, and later, unicellular stem eukaryotes, highlighting the role of the fungal grade of organisation in the evolution of higher organisms. Based on the latest research, this is a unique account of the origin of life and its evolutionary diversity to the present day.

This book is an intellectual tour de force: a comprehensive Darwinian interpretation of human development. Looking at the entire range of human evolutionary history, Melvin Konner tells the compelling and complex story of how cross-cultural and universal characteristics of our growth from infancy to adolescence became rooted in genetically inherited characteristics of the human brain.

All study of our evolution starts with one simple truth: human beings take an extraordinarily long time to grow up. What does this extended period of dependency have to do with human brain growth and social interactions? And why is play a sign of cognitive complexity, and a spur for cultural evolution? As Konner explores these questions, and topics ranging from bipedal walking to incest taboos, he firmly lays the foundations of psychology in biology.

As his book eloquently explains, human learning and the greatest human intellectual accomplishments are rooted in our inherited capacity for attachments to each other. In our love of those we learn from, we find our way as individuals and as a species. Never before has this intersection of the biology and psychology of childhood been so brilliantly described.

"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution," wrote Dobzhansky. In this remarkable book, Melvin Konner shows that nothing in childhood makes sense except in the light of evolution.

This book aims at providing an overview and in depth analysis of recent developments in stem cell research and therapy. It is composed of recently published review articles that went through peer-review process. Stem cells are the building blocks of the body. They can develop into any of the cells that make up our bodies. Stem cells hold a great deal of hope for the treatment of a broad range of diseases and injuries, spanning from cancers, diabetes, genetic diseases, graft-versus-host disease, eye, heart and liver diseases, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, to neurological diseases and injuries. These include neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, cerebral strokes, and traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. Therefore, Stem cell research is as important for understanding of the physio- and pathology of the body, as for development and therapy, including the nervous system. Volume V provides an overview and in depth analysis of recent developments in the front of patent applications filed and clinical trials initiated in the field of stem cells, in the aim of introducing stem cell research into therapy.