Foundations of Neural Development

S. Marc Breedlove, the Barnett Rosenberg Professor of Neuroscience at Michigan State University, has written over 130 scientific articles investigating the role of hormones in shaping the developing and adult nervous system, publishing in journals including Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. He is also passionate about teaching--in the classroom, and in the greater community through interviews with the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Newsweek, as well as broadcast programs such as All Things Considered, Good Morning America, and Sixty Minutes. He has active grant support from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Breedlove is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association for Psychological Science.

Prologue: The Rationalist Philosophers. 1. The Metazoans’ Dilemma: Cell Differentiation and Neural Induction.- 2. Coordinating Fates: Development of a Body Pattern.- 3. Upward Mobility: Neurogenesis and Migration.- 4. Seeking Identity: Neural Differentiation.- 5. Feeling One’s Way: Axonal Pathfinding.- 6. Making Connections: Synapse Formation and Maturation.- 7. Accepting Mortality: Apoptosis.- 8. Synaptic Plasticity: Activity-Guided Neural Development.- 9. Fine-Tuning Sensory Systems: Activity-Guided Neural Development.- 10. Maximizing Fitness: Socially Guided Neural Development.- Epilogue: Immanuel Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason.