The development of gene-based technologies has been rapid over the past decade and has consequently resulted in a surge of interest in human gene therapy, the deliberate transfer of genes to somatic cells to cure or alleviate disease symptoms.
Hundreds of clinical protocols involving variously designed vectors for efficient gene transfer have been developed. However, the use of such complex 'gene medicines'’ containing potentially heritable genes has raised numerous concerns regarding quality, efficacy and safety.
Encompassing recent developments in the field and addressing current concerns this book:

• surveys many of the current technologies for preparing vectors for use in gene therapy protocols
• reviews the application of gene-mediated therapies to a range of medical conditions
• considers the regulatory aspects of gene therapy including product quality and safety requirements
• appraises the transfer of technologies from laboratory to clinic with regard to the attendant requirements and facilities for:
• good laboratory practice (GLP) conditions in the R&D laboratory
• large-scale production methods and good manufacturing practice (GMP)
• current in-process and final product testing

The general field of fundamental and applied biotechnology becomes increasingly important for the production of biologicals for human and veterinary use, by using prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. The papers in the present book are refereed articles compiled from oral and poster presentations from the EFB Meeting on Recombinant Protein Production with Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells. A Comparative View on Host Physiology, which was organized in Semmering/A from 5th to 8th October 2000. A special feature of this meeting was the comparison of different classes of host cells, mainly bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi, and animal cells, which made obvious that many physiological features of recombinant protein formation, like cell nutrition, stress responses, protein folding and secretion, or genetic stability, follow similar patterns in different expression systems. This comparative aspect is by far the point of most interest because such comparisons are rarely done, and if they are done, their results are most often kept secret by the companies who generated them. Audience: Presently, a comparable book does not exist because the compiling of manuscripts from all fields of biotechnology (prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic, up to animal cell biotechnology) is not done in general. This particularity makes this book very interesting for postgraduate students and professionals in the large field of biotechnology who want to get a more global view on the current state of the expression of recombinant biologicals in different host cell systems, the physiological problems associated with the use of different expression systems, potential approaches to solve such difficulties bymetabolic engineering or the use of other host cells, and the cooperation between process development and strain improvement, which is crucial for the optimisation of both the production strain and the process. This book should be in every library of an institution/organization involved in biotechnology.

The maintenance of telomeres-repetitive sequences at the end of chromosome-is essential to health. Dysfunction in telomere maintenance pathways plays a role in aging, cancer, atherosclerosis and other diseases. This has led to telomere maintenance as a prime target for patient therapies. This book describes the advances in telomere research as it applies to human health and especially how lifestyle and dietary factors could modify the telomerase maintenance process. The book examines the mechanisms involved, the primary of which are oxidative stress and the role of sirtuins, and how they can be modified by dietary patterns such as Mediterranean diet.

The sunflower has fascinated mankind for centuries. The oilseed sunflower contributes approximately ten percent of the world 's plant-derived edible oil and the confection type sunflower holds a considerable share of the directly consumed snacks market. In addition, sunflower is also grown as an ornamental for cut flowers, as well as in home gardens. We are now embarking on the age of genomics which will expedite the process of genetic improvement of crops. There has been an explosion of information on genetic markers, DNA sequences, and genomic resources for most major food crops including sunflower. This volume is intended to bridge traditional research with modern molecular investigations on sunflower.

Elizabeth Rakcozy and a team of leading clinical and experimental scientists describe in step-by-step detail the key techniques essential to effective molecular biological research in ophthalmology and optometry. These readily reproducible methods are adapted to the special requirements of vision research, with coverage that ranges from the most basic to the most sophisticated technologies. Included are methods for the down-regulation of gene expression, new gene therapy techniques, and for the development of transgenic and knockout animal models for testing novel therapies. Eminently accessible and clinically relevant, Vision Research Protocols provides experimental and biomedical investigators in ophthalmology and optometry with a rich panoply of most powerful tools with which to ask--and answer--all the important questions emerging from the dramatically advancing work in vision research today.

Despite the prevalence of behavioral research conducted through genetic studies, there is an absence of literature pertaining to the genetics of motor behavior. Genetics and the Psychology of Motor Performance is the first book to integrate cutting-edge genetic research into the study of the psychological aspects of motor learning and control. The book's central line of enquiry revolves around the extent to which psychological factors central to motor proficiency - including personality, emotion, self-regulation, motivation, and perceptual-cognitive skills - are acquired or inherited. It explains how these factors affect motor performance, distilling the latest research into their genetic underpinnings and, in doing so, assessing the magnitude of the role genetics plays in the stages of motor development, from early proficiency through to expertise. Written by leading experts in the genetics of human performance and exercise psychology, and thoroughly illustrated throughout, Genetics and the Psychology of Motor Performance is a crucial resource for any upper-level student or researcher seeking a deeper understanding of motor learning. It is an important book for anyone studying or working in exercise psychology, motor development, exercise genetics, or exercise physiology more broadly.

James Mark Baldwin left a legacy that has yet to be fully examined, one with profound implications for science and the humanities. In some sense it paralleled that of his friend Charles Sanders Peirce, whose semiotics became understood only a century later. Baldwin was trying to make sense of complex biological and social processes which only now have come into the limelight as biological sciences, and slowly but surely, have re-emerged in psychology.

Baldwin's focus on development, based on the observation of his own children and extrapolated to his general theoretical scheme, is fully in line with where our contemporary biological sciences are heading. This is exemplified by the bounded flexibility of the work of the genetic system. The general principle of persistent exploration of the environment with the result of creating novelty, which was the core of Baldwin's theoretical system, has since the 1960s become the guiding idea in genetics. Contemporary developmental science is rooted in Baldwin's thinking.

In his new introduction, Jaan Valsiner shows that Baldwin's Genetic Theory of Reality demonstrates how human beings are in their nature social beings, establishes an alternative conceptualization of evolutionary theory, and formulates a system of developmental logic, all of which serve as the foundation for developmental psychology as a whole. This is a work of social science rediscovery long overdue.

The enormous advances in molecular biology and genetics coupled with the progress in instrumentation and surgical techniques have produced a voluminous and often bewildering quantity of data. The primary objective of a second edition of Cardiovascular Physiology in the Genetically Engineered Mouse is to interpret critically the literature and to provide a framework for the enormous amount of information in this burgeoning field. As in the first edition, the monograph serves as a practical guide for the investigator interested in the functional methods used to characterize the murine cardiovascular phenotype. The monograph is organized into three parts. The first deals with principles of transgenesis and homologous recombination. The second part, which again is the largest, discusses the various techniques used to assess the cardiovascular mechanical, metabolic, and electrophysiologic phenotype. This section is organized in a hierarchical manner- i.e. from isolated myocyte to isolated heart to the intact, anesthetized and conscious mouse. The third part examines techniques used to evaluate murine smooth muscle function, genetic mouse models of hypertrophy and heart failure, and the methods to assess the cardiovascular phenotype in the developing mouse embryo. In addition, newer methods that push the envelope', such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM), and computed tomography (microCT) are discussed. Expanded and updated, each chapter is richly enhanced with original tables and figures, and in many cases, extensively rewritten when compared with the first edition. An essential and enduring goal of this second edition isto continue to facilitate interactions between the basic science disciplines and help bridge the gap between molecular biology and physiology.

Thoroughly Describes Biological Applications, Computational Problems, and Various Algorithmic Solutions Developed from the author's own teaching material, Algorithms in Bioinformatics: A Practical Introduction provides an in-depth introduction to the algorithmic techniques applied in bioinformatics. For each topic, the author clearly details the biological motivation and precisely defines the corresponding computational problems. He also includes detailed examples to illustrate each algorithm and end-of-chapter exercises for students to familiarize themselves with the topics. Supplementary material is available at http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~ksung/algo_in_bioinfo/ This classroom-tested textbook begins with basic molecular biology concepts. It then describes ways to measure sequence similarity, presents simple applications of the suffix tree, and discusses the problem of searching sequence databases. After introducing methods for aligning multiple biological sequences and genomes, the text explores applications of the phylogenetic tree, methods for comparing phylogenetic trees, the problem of genome rearrangement, and the problem of motif finding. It also covers methods for predicting the secondary structure of RNA and for reconstructing the peptide sequence using mass spectrometry. The final chapter examines the computational problem related to population genetics.

An introduction to machine learning methods and their applications to problems in bioinformatics Machine learning techniques are increasingly being used to address problems in computational biology and bioinformatics. Novel computational techniques to analyze high throughput data in the form of sequences, gene and protein expressions, pathways, and images are becoming vital for understanding diseases and future drug discovery. Machine learning techniques such as Markov models, support vector machines, neural networks, and graphical models have been successful in analyzing life science data because of their capabilities in handling randomness and uncertainty of data noise and in generalization. From an internationally recognized panel of prominent researchers in the field, Machine Learning in Bioinformatics compiles recent approaches in machine learning methods and their applications in addressing contemporary problems in bioinformatics. Coverage includes: feature selection for genomic and proteomic data mining; comparing variable selection methods in gene selection and classification of microarray data; fuzzy gene mining; sequence-based prediction of residue-level properties in proteins; probabilistic methods for long-range features in biosequences; and much more. Machine Learning in Bioinformatics is an indispensable resource for computer scientists, engineers, biologists, mathematicians, researchers, clinicians, physicians, and medical informaticists. It is also a valuable reference text for computer science, engineering, and biology courses at the upper undergraduate and graduate levels.

The field of molecular evolution has experienced explosive growth in recent years due to the rapid accumulation of genetic sequence data, continuous improvements to computer hardware and software, and the development of sophisticated analytical methods. The increasing availability of large genomic data sets requires powerful statistical methods to analyse and interpret them, generating both computational and conceptual challenges for the field.
Computational Molecular Evolution provides an up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of modern statistical and computational methods used in molecular evolutionary analysis, such as maximum likelihood and Bayesian statistics. Yang describes the models, methods and algorithms that are most useful for analysing the ever-increasing supply of molecular sequence data, with a view to furthering our understanding of the evolution of genes and genomes. The book emphasizes essential concepts rather than mathematical proofs. It includes detailed derivations and implementation details, as well as numerous illustrations, worked examples, and exercises. It will be of relevance and use to students and professional researchers (both empiricists and theoreticians) in the fields of molecular phylogenetics, evolutionary biology, population genetics, mathematics, statistics and computer science. Biologists who have used phylogenetic software programs to analyze their own data will find the book particularly rewarding, although it should appeal to anyone seeking an authoritative overview of this exciting area of computational biology.

A dazzlingly erudite synthesis of history, philosophy, anthropology, genetics, sociology, economics, epidemiology, statistics, and more (Frank Bruni, The New York Times), Blueprint shows why evolution has placed us on a humane path -- and how we are united by our common humanity. For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. Beneath all of our inventions -- our tools, farms, machines, cities, nations -- we carry with us innate proclivities to make a good society. In Blueprint, Nicholas A. Christakis introduces the compelling idea that our genes affect not only our bodies and behaviors, but also the ways in which we make societies, ones that are surprisingly similar worldwide. With many vivid examples -- including diverse historical and contemporary cultures, communities formed in the wake of shipwrecks, commune dwellers seeking utopia, online groups thrown together by design or involving artificially intelligent bots, and even the tender and complex social arrangements of elephants and dolphins that so resemble our own -- Christakis shows that, despite a human history replete with violence, we cannot escape our social blueprint for goodness. In a world of increasing political and economic polarization, it's tempting to ignore the positive role of our evolutionary past. But by exploring the ancient roots of goodness in civilization, Blueprint shows that our genes have shaped societies for our welfare and that, in a feedback loop stretching back many thousands of years, societies are still shaping our genes today.

The availability of molecular imaging and measurement systems enables today's biologists to swiftly monitor thousands of genes involved in a host of diseases, a critical factor in specialized drug development. Systems Biology and Bioinformatics: A Computational Approach provides students with a comprehensive collection of the computational methods used in what is being coined the digital era of biology. Written by field experts with proven track records, this authoritative textbook first provides an introduction to systems biology and its impact on biology and medicine. The book then reviews the basic principles of molecular and cell biology using a system-oriented approach, with a brief description of the high-throughput biological experiments that produce databases. The text includes techniques to discover genes, perform nucleotide and amino acid sequence matching, and estimate static gene dynamic pathways. The book also explains how to use system-oriented models to predict the behavior of biological systems for important applications such as rational drug design. The numerous examples and problem sets allow students to confidently explore practical systems biology applications using real examples with real biological data, making Systems Biology and Bioinformatics: A Computational Approach an ideal text for senior undergraduate and first-year graduate students.

Epigenetics is emerging as an important factor in risk of diseases of global importance including obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Unlike gene polymorphisms which have been the focus of understanding the role of inherited disease susceptibility for some time, epigenetic can be modified by environmental factors, in particular nutrition. Thus research into the role of epigenetics in disease has substantial potential for explaining the impact of the environmental factors such as diet on disease risk. Since epigenetic processes can be modified by nutrition, it may be possible to modify inappropriate epigenetic marks by nutritional interventions to reduce disease risk. This book will explore current understanding of the interaction between nutrition, epigenetics and disease risk, will place this knowledge in the context of global health and discuss the ethical implications of this research.

This is the first book to give a full overview on genome integrity in different species. From microorganisms to humans, this volume provides an interdisciplinary overview of how genome integrity is maintained. Written by an international panel of experts, the book addresses the connection between genome integrity and human disease.

A provocative and timely case for how the science of genetics can help create a more just and equal society In recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health-and in ways that matter for educational and economic success in our current society. In The Genetic Lottery, Harden introduces readers to the latest genetic science, dismantling dangerous ideas about racial superiority and challenging us to grapple with what equality really means in a world where people are born different. Weaving together personal stories with scientific evidence, Harden shows why our refusal to recognize the power of DNA perpetuates the myth of meritocracy, and argues that we must acknowledge the role of genetic luck if we are ever to create a fair society. Reclaiming genetic science from the legacy of eugenics, this groundbreaking book offers a bold new vision of society where everyone thrives, regardless of how one fares in the genetic lottery.

Pocket Guide to Gene Level Diagnostics in Clinical Practice is an abbreviated, pocket-size, quick-reference guide that provides a point-by-point synopsis of the vast wealth of information contained in CRC Handbook of Gene Level Diagnostics in Clinical Practice. All sections and subsections in the Pocket Guide are cross-referenced to corresponding pages in the Handbook. The book works well on its own as a quick reference, but also can be used in conjunction with the larger Handbook for detailed coverage and references to specific information. Pocket Guide to Gene Level Diagnostics in Clinical Practice also includes extensive supplements featuring material not included in the Handbook. These are intended to provide an up-dated, practical source of information useful to anyone involved in molecular diagnostic research and/or service. Supplements are cross-referenced to the main text of the Pocket Guide, that complement and enhance the material covered. Pocket Guide to Gene Level Diagnostics in Clinical Practice will be a handy reference for professionals and students in pathology, biotechnology, biology, and medicine.

Thoroughly Describes Biological Applications, Computational Problems, and Various Algorithmic Solutions Developed from the author's own teaching material, Algorithms in Bioinformatics: A Practical Introduction provides an in-depth introduction to the algorithmic techniques applied in bioinformatics. For each topic, the author clearly details the biological motivation and precisely defines the corresponding computational problems. He also includes detailed examples to illustrate each algorithm and end-of-chapter exercises for students to familiarize themselves with the topics. Supplementary material is available at http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~ksung/algo_in_bioinfo/ This classroom-tested textbook begins with basic molecular biology concepts. It then describes ways to measure sequence similarity, presents simple applications of the suffix tree, and discusses the problem of searching sequence databases. After introducing methods for aligning multiple biological sequences and genomes, the text explores applications of the phylogenetic tree, methods for comparing phylogenetic trees, the problem of genome rearrangement, and the problem of motif finding. It also covers methods for predicting the secondary structure of RNA and for reconstructing the peptide sequence using mass spectrometry. The final chapter examines the computational problem related to population genetics.

The Handbook provides an essential resource at the interface of Genomics, Health and Society, and forms a crucial research tool for both new students and established scholars across biomedicine and social sciences. Building from and extending the first Routledge Handbook of Genetics and Society, the book offers a comprehensive introduction to pivotal themes within the field, an overview of the current state of the art knowledge on genomics, science and society, and an outline of emerging areas of research. Key themes addressed include the way genomic based DNA technologies have become incorporated into diverse arenas of clinical practice and research whilst also extending beyond the clinic; the role of genomics in contemporary 'bioeconomies'; how challenges in the governance of medical genomics can both reconfigure and stabilise regulatory processes and jurisdictional boundaries; how questions of diversity and justice are situated across different national and transnational terrains of genomic research; and how genomics informs - and is shaped by - developments in fields such as epigenetics, synthetic biology, stem cell, microbial and animal model research. Chapter 13 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315451695-13 Chapter 28 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315451695-28

In recent years, the discovery of functional small RNAs has brought about an unprecedented revolution within the field of molecular biology. This volume describes strategies for the discovery and validation of small RNAs. It provides a snapshot of our current understanding of the different mechanisms triggered by small RNAs and the variations encountered in different organisms.

Phylogenomics: A Primer, Second Edition is for advanced undergraduate and graduate biology students studying molecular biology, comparative biology, evolution, genomics, and biodiversity. This book explains the essential concepts underlying the storage and manipulation of genomics level data, construction of phylogenetic trees, population genetics, natural selection, the tree of life, DNA barcoding, and metagenomics. The inclusion of problem-solving exercises in each chapter provides students with a solid grasp of the important molecular and evolutionary questions facing modern biologists as well as the tools needed to answer them.

First published in 1923, this book explores the impact on development that heredity and environment has on children. Chaplin argues that too much reliance is placed on education and in fact parents, physicians and teachers should equally be taking into consideration the physical and mental constitution of the child, which could be linked to hereditary and environmental factors. In conjunction with the moral, spiritual and intellectual predispositions that the child may have, Chaplin argues the pros of eugenics (in the perspective of the early 20th century) and equally the importance of euthenics for future prosperity of generations to come.

From the mid 1990s to the present day, agricultural biotechnology - GM crops and foods - has been the focus of debate and conflict in many European countries. Contrasting views of risks and benefits, trust in science and regulation, the understanding of science, media coverage and mobilization of the public by civil society groups - all have been cited as drivers of public opinion. Designed in part to allay public concerns about GM agriculture, a European moratorium led to a new regulatory framework. The long running controversy is a signal that the public's view cannot be ignored in the development and implementation of new technologies arising out of genomics. Yet, agricultural biotechnologies are but one development in this area. Genetic testing and the uses of genetic information, the cloning of human cells and tissues, and transgenic animals are potentially no less challenging for the public and regulators alike. This volume, by an international group of social scientists from Europe, North America and Japan, presents a series of comparative perspectives on the social, ethical and legal implications of genomics. The aim is to capture lessons from the controversies of the 1990s and to raise the level of debate on the societal implications of new developments in genomics.

Key features: Presents summaries of key points after each chapter and includes color graphs to visualize the big-picture concepts Demonstrates how urban rooftop farms (URFs) can contribute to city greening and climate change mitigation worldwide while providing fresh locally-sourced produce for growing urban populations Provides cutting-edge ideas from the the emerging field of food law and places international and comparative legal concepts into an accessible context for non-lawyers Examines major disputes surrounding food products that have been brought before the World Trade Organization (WTO) to illustrate how trade trends have pushed toward GMO proliferation Uses examples of food labeling, pollinator protection, pesticide permitting, invasive species control, and GMO regulatory policy in the US and the EU to illustrate various methods of bringing public law to the forefront in the struggle toward achieving food integrity The proliferation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in our increasingly globalized food system is trivializing the inherent risks to a sustainable world. Responding to the realities of climate change, urbanization, and a GMO-dominated industrialized food system, Gabriela Steier's seminal work addresses the interrelationship of these cutting-edge topics within a scholarly, legal context. In Advancing Food Integrity: GMO Regulation, Agroecology, and Urban Agriculture, Steier defines food integrity as the optimal measure of environmental sustainability and climate change resilience combined with food safety, security, and sovereignty for the farm-to-fork production and distribution of any food product. The book starts with a discussion of the food system and explores whether private law has sufficiently protected food or whether public law control is needed to safeguard food integrity. It proceeds to show how the proliferation of GMOs creates food insecurity by denying people's access to food through food system centralization. Steier discusses how current industrial agricultural policy downplays the dangers of GMO monocultures to crop diversity and biodiversity, thereby weakening food production systems. Striving to promote agroecology by providing a fresh and compelling narrative of interdisciplinary questions, Steier explores how farming can be geared toward more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices worldwide in the future. This book belongs in the libraries of all those interested in food law, environmental law, agroecology, sustainable agriculture, and urban living practices.

This book reports on the current global status of mungbean and its economic importance. Mungbean (Vigna radiata)-also called green gram-is an important food and cash crop in the rice-based farming systems of South and Southeast Asia, but is also grown in other parts of the world. Its short duration, low input requirement and high global demand make mungbean an ideal rotation crop for smallholder farmers. The book describes mungbean collections maintained by various organizations and their utilization, especially with regard to adapting mungbean to new environments. It provides an overview of the progress made in breeding for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses; nutritional quality enhancement including genomics approaches; and outlines future challenges for mungbean cultivation. In addition, genomic approaches to evaluating the evolutionary relationship between Vigna species and addressing questions concerning domestication, adaptation and genotype-phenotype relationships are also discussed