How do the billions of connections between neurons in our brain change as we learn and remember? This is the story of the discovery and the discoverer of synaptic pruning, the process of synapse elimination central to making us who we are. Taking the reader from Professor Peter Huttenlocher's childhood in wartime and post-war Germany to his emigration to the US to reunite with his mother and the launch and progress of a career in medicine and research, we uncover the motivations and process of scientific discovery that led to an unexpected leap in our understanding of the human brain. Decades after the discovery, the importance of synaptic pruning to early learning, autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and other conditions are now in the process of being uncovered.
An engaging story of the discovery of synaptic pruning and the discoverer. From childhood in wartime/post-war Germany through to a US career in medicine and science, Peter Huttenlocher lived an inspiring life. Scientific discovery is brought alive throughout, including explorations of current work on autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's.
Recenzijos
'Anna Huttenlocher has written a fascinating book and an important biography of her father. [ It] poses some deep questions about where science comes from, and provides some useful suggestions about how we might promote a healthier scientific society in the future.' Christopher Walsh, Lancet Neurology
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Riveting biography of scientist Peter Huttenlocher taking reader from his childhood in war-torn Germany to his discovery of synaptic pruning.
Acknowledgments; Preface;
1. Introduction;
2. Discovering Synaptic Pruning;
3. Else, Peter's Mother;
4. Richard, Peter's Father, and Peter's Uncle Fritz;
5. Greiz: Kriegskinder (Children of War);
6. In Braubach, after the War;
7. University of Buffalo and Philosophy;
8. Harvard Medical School;
9. Understanding Sleep and Consciousness: Research at NIH;
10. Entering the Cognitive Revolution: Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology;
11. Physician First, Scientist Second?;
12. Comparative Brain Regions and Synapse Formation;
13. Stimulating Progress on Developmental Brain Disorders;
14. Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Schizophrenia: A Role for Synaptic Pruning?;
15. Early Childhood Education;
16. Peter and Janellen's Collaboration;
17. Microglia and the Mechanisms of Synaptic Pruning;
18. Looking Forward: Being a Physician and a Scientist;
19. Parkinson's Disease and Berlin;
20. Auf Deutsch; Reflections at the End; Glossary; Index.
Physician scientist Anna Huttenlocher is a Professor at University of Wisconsin, Madison and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Her laboratory studies cell migration in inflammation and cancer. She directed the MD-Ph.D. program at UW-Madison and is a committed mentor to the next generation of physicians and biomedical scientists.
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