The Eighth Edition of Developmental Biology expands its coverage of the mechanisms of development, the roles that environmental factors play in development, the medical applications of our knowledge of development, and the roles that development plays in evolution, highlighting all the incredible advances that have been made in the last three years. Written primarily for undergraduate biology majors, it also serves to introduce graduate students and medical students to developmental biology.
A completely updated text integrates classical developmental biology with contemporary techniques, including new material on: stem cells niches; microRNAs; sperm-egg attraction and binding; induction and maintenance of pluripotency; pioneer transcription factors and the recruitment of nucleosome remodeling proteins; left-right gene expression asymmetry; heart chamber specification; neural crest cell specification and differentiation; somite formation; human brain growth genes; the syndetome; new sources of muscle precursor cells; newly discovered mechanisms of teratogenesis; the effects of endocrine disruptors on human development; sex determination pathways in the brain; the effects of maternal nutrition on gene expression and disease susceptibility in the adult offspring; controversies over digit specification in birds and dinosaurs and whether mammalian blastomere fate is biased at the first division; and much more. Included with every copy of the book is Vade Mecum2: An Interactive Guide to Developmental Biology. In addition to a wealth of interactive content, this updated version includes a new Teachers' and Student's Resource with PowerPoint® slides of chick whole mounts and serial sections. A searchable PDF file on the CD contains full citations for the book's literature cited, with links to PubMed. The CD also includes Mary Tyler's laboratory manual, Developmental Biology: A Guide for Experimental Study, Third Edition, in electronic (PDF) format. textbook and provides more information for advanced students, historical, philosophical, and ethical perspectives on issues in developmental biology, movies, interviews, Web links, and updates. The website includes the full bibliography of literature cited in the book (over 5,000 references), most of which are linked to their PubMed citations.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

If Knowledge is Your Idea of Fun...:

... you might be interested in this massive college textbook in developmental biology, chiefly addressing cell processes. It does presuppose a reasonable knowledge of general biology and chemistry, but given that starting point, it's quite lucid in its explanations, the visual aids are very clear and supportive of the text, and the whole volume progresses well from what you know toward what you need to know next. Most of the negative reviews here focus on what the book doesn't contain; I'm sure the... more info

Developmental Biology:

Good condition and the delivery is slow, but it came in within the time frame given

Developmental Biology:

This is a great book that is very descriptive and with lots of pictures. The only problem is that it jumps around between chapeter when discussion topics. For example, in chapter 1, the basics of developmental biology are discussed and some topics are referenced as being talked about in later chapters like 5, 6, 8 and so on. These things should be defined when they are first brought up, you should not be told to look in a later chapter to find the defenition of something you are reading about.

Too much focus on details, not enough on concepts:

I used this book as a textbook for a senior-level class in Developmental Biology. Gilbert is the standard reference, and I had used his 2nd edition book years ago when I had Embryology myself. Someone else ordered the book (before I was hired) but I was relieved when I found out that it was Gilbert's text.
However, much has changed since the second edition. One bewildering aspect is that, although development arguably begins at the point of gamete fusion (fertilization), this is not covered until... more info

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