Building Brains (PDF)

The development of a brain from its simple beginnings in the embryoto the extraordinarily complex fully-functional adult structure isa truly remarkable process. Understanding how it occurs remains aformidable challenge despite enormous advances over the lastcentury and current intense world-wide scientific research. Agreater knowledge of how nervous systems construct themselves willbring huge benefits for human health and future technologies.Unravelling the mechanisms that lead to the development of healthybrains should help scientists tackle currently incurable diseasesof the nervous system such as autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia(to name but a few), discover more about the processes that causethe uncontrolled growth associated with cancer and develop possibletreatments.

Building Brains provides a highly visual andreadily accessible introduction to the main events that occurduring neural development and the mechanisms by which they occur.Aimed at undergraduate students and postgraduates new to the field,who may not have a background in neuroscience and/or moleculargenetics, it explains how cells in the early embryo first becomeneural, how their proliferation is controlled, what regulates thetypes of neural cells they become, how neurons connect to eachother, how these connections are later refined under the influenceof neural activity including that arising from experience, and whysome neurons normally die.

Key Features:
* A concise illustrated guide focusing on the core elements ofcurrent understanding of neural development, emphasising commonprinciples underlying developmental mechanisms and supplemented bysuggestions for further reading.
* Text boxes throughout provide further detail on selected majoradvances, issues of particular uncertainty or controversy andexamples of human diseases that result from abnormaldevelopment.
* A balanced mammalian/non-mammalian perspective, drawing onexamples from model organisms including the fruit fly, nematodeworm, frog, zebrafish, chick, mouse, ferret, cat, monkey and human,and emphasising mechanisms that are conserved across species.
* Introduces the methods for studying neural developmentincluding genetics, transgenic technologies, advanced microscopyand computational modeling, allowing the reader to understand themain evidence underlying research advances.
* Student-friendly, full colour artwork reinforces importantconcepts; an extensive glossary and definitions in page marginshelp readers from different backgrounds; chapter summaries stressimportant points and aid revision.
* Associated Website includes a complete set of figures from thetextbook.