Concepts in Biology: A Historical Perspective

This book provides a comprehensive review of the history of concepts of  the endocrine, nervous and immune systems throughout the last century.

Historically,  these systems were long considered as compartments that performed  separate and different functions. However, a breakthrough occurred when  advances in genetics and cellular and molecular biology techniques  revealed that these systems shared molecular entities (such as  cytokines, hormones and neurotransmitters) with their cognate receptors.

These  molecular links between the three systems broaden our understanding of  the regulation of physiological processes. This approach has generated a  multiplicity of new concepts, including crosstalk between organs, axis,  feedback, molecular sensors, protein multi-functionality, positive and  negative signaling ratios and pathways (such as cell signaling,  metabolism and stem cell differentiation, to name a few).

The  improvement of experimental approaches has often resulted in major  discoveries. This, combined with clear reasoning, intuition and  coherence gave rise to new and unexpected concepts, and sometimes  evolving ones. These new concepts lead the reader to the incredible  transformation of biology in recent years.