Basic Molecular and Cell Biology

This third, fully revised, edition brings the reader right up to date with the recent advances made in the study of disease at the molecular and cellular level, and examines the exciting new possibilities for treatment. Its clear and straightforward style will give doctors, medical students, and researchers valuable insight into molecular medicine and its applications. Molecular and cell biology in clinical medicine; methods in molecular medicine; the polymerase chain reaction - a tool for molecular medicine; an introduction to cells; stem cells in normal growth and disease; cell reproduction; apoptosis (programmed cell death); cell to cell and cell to matrix adhesion; how do receptors at the cell surface transmit signals to the cell interior?; membrane traffic, from cell to clinic; cytoskeleton and disease; the cell nucleus' gene regulation and transcription factors; genes and cancer; human congenital malformations - insights from molecular genetics; molecular genetics of common diseases; impact of molecular biology on clinical genetics; monoclonal antibodies in medicine; production and use of therapeutic agents; gene therapy.

David Seymour Latchman CBE is a British geneticist and university administrator. Since 2003 he has been Master of Birkbeck, University of London, and Professor of Genetics at Birkbeck and University College London. This third, fully revised edition, brings the reader up to date with recent advances made in the study of disease at the molecular and cellular level, and examines the new possibilities for treatment. Leaders in the field explain the techniques of molecular and cell biology, which are being applied in specialities as far apart as cardiology and diabetes, and describe their implications for medicine. Subjects covered include: methods used in molecular medicine, the polymerase chain reaction; recent advances in cell biology, molecular genetics of common diseases; the role of molecular biology in diagnosis, and gene therapy. The should enable doctors, students and researchers to gain a basic understanding of the subject and some insight into the way in which the medical sciences will be moving over the next few years.