Sunday, 8 September 2013

Chromosomal Instability and Aging: Basic Science and Clinical Implications

Understanding the biological basis of aging has fascinated people throughout recorded history, and is one of the great remaining scientific questions. The question has never been more important than now, as we anticipate the impact that a rapidly growing older population will have on the social, political, and medical landscape over the next 50 years. There is increasing evidence that aging involves damage to the genome, and it is certainly the case that such damage explains much of the coupling of most cancers to aging. This volume brings together expert reviews on issues related to the role of chromosomal instability in the modulation of life span and health span.

The primary aim of this book is to provide the scientific community with a current treatise on the cellular and molecular bases of aging and chromosomal instability in human diseases and model organisms. We intend this book for students, scientists, and physicians interested in the biology of aging and human genetics, and for those studying genomic instability in the fields of biochemistry, genetics, therapeutic radiology, oncology, and pathology. The realization that aging could be studied by using the methods of modern molecular biology and genetics has led to an explosion of knowledge in the field. Indeed, one of the difficulties of beginning a career in aging research has been how widely scattered the information is, with relevant publications appearing in numerous and diverse scientific journals. In this sense, the biology of aging is a “supraspecialty” encompassing many other fields, rather than a narrow subspecialty. This text will provide readers with a background for understanding a wide range of the most important work, and a context for future discoveries.



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