Gene Expression During Cell Differentiation

Significant recent advances in cell culture technology now permit a detailed biochemical and molecular analysis of differentiation in both normal and tumor cells. These studies are important in attempting to understand the complex factors involved in normal growth and development, as well as the abnormalities associated with carcinogenesis. Mechanisms of Differentiation, Volumes I and II, is comprised of review chapters addressing various topics of current interest in this important area of research. Topics discussed include genes controlling differentiation, changes in gene expression during differentiation, induction of differentiation, induction of differentiation as a mode of action of chemotherapeutic agents, and the effect of cell shape, growth factors and differentiation modulating agents on the differentiated cell phenotype. Mechanisms of Differentiation is valuable to researchers involved in differentiation and development, carcinogenesis, cell biology, chemotherapy, and immunology.

This series was established to create comprehensive treatises on specific topics in developmental biology. Such volumes serve a useful role in developmental biology, which is a very diverse field that receives contributions from a wide variety of disciplines. This series is a meeting ground for the various practi tioners of this science, facilitating an integration of heterogeneous information on specific topics. Each volume is comprised of chapters selected to provide the conceptual basis for a comprehensive understanding of its topic as well as an analysis of the key experiments upon which that understanding is based. The specialist in any aspect of developmental biology should understand the experimental back ground of the specialty and be able to place that body of information in context, in order to ascertain where additional research would be fruitful. The creative process then generates new experiments. This series is intended to be a vital link in that ongoing process of learning and discovery.