Book Description

The first edition of Embryos, Genes and BirthDefects, edited by the late Peter Thorogood, was a radicalnew book aimed at bridging the gap between the medical disciplinesof embryology and dysmorphology, and recent advances in cellular,molecular and developmental biology. This new edition remainsunique in its breadth and brings up to date our understanding ofbirth defects and of the strategies utilized to gain suchknowledge. It features new chapters on human cytogenetics,mutagenesis and the eyes and ears. The book presents key topics in developmental biology andexplains how they provide the foundations for understandingclinical birth defects. The first six chapters introduce conceptsand strategies adopted to elucidate developmental anomalies leadingto birth defects. The book then focuses on specific organs andreviews the cellular and molecular mechanisms affecting theirdevelopment and how disruption of these mechanisms by genetic orenvironmental factors may underlie certain birth defects. Thechapters are concise and provide up-to-date coverage of topics in aformat that is easily accessible and yet at the forefront ofresearch. Written primarily for paediatricians, obstetricians, clinicalgeneticists and allied workers, this book guides the reader throughthe contribution of modern molecular biology to our understandingof human development. Developmental and cellular biologists willlearn how errors in the cellular and genetic mechanism can lead toclassical disorders, diseases and syndromes.