Saves work for teachers -- motivates students

Now a new introductory text explains cell biology at a level that is easy to grasp for students with a minimal knowledge of biology. The detailed, easy-to-follow text provides students with important background information and the basics necessary to understand cell biology. Teachers can spend less time explaining fundamentals and can focus on more sophisticated concepts. In addition, a profusion of detailed step-by-step full-color diagrams, electron micrographs and photographs reveal and clarify important principles and processes.

Written by the authors of a renowned classic

This new volume is the work of the same exceptional team who wrote the groundbreaking and universally acclaimed text Molecular Biology of the Cell, now in its Third Edition. The brand-new Essential Cell Biology was written in response to many professors who expressed a need for an introductory textbook for undergraduates that was not as difficult as texts for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. In Essential Cell Biology, early chapters review basic concepts in chemistry and biochemistry to provide the necessary understanding of the essential processes and mechanisms covered later in the text. The full-color schematics have been meticulously constructed specifically for students taking a basic course.
-- Problems and answers complement the text and stimulate the student's curiosity.
-- Quick questions within each chapter enable students to instantly review what they have just read.
-- End-of-chapter self-tests of more challenging questions letstudents gauge their grasp of the material and whet their appetite for more information.
-- Easy-to-understand panels illuminate the principles of microscopy, the composition of biological macromolecules, the basis of hydrophobicity, the glycolytic pathway, principles of genetics, and many more topics.
-- Lavish full-color art work and many color photographs and electron micrographs enliven and illustrate the text.
-- A detailed glossary helps students master the specialized vocabulary of modern biology.

An easy-to-grasp introduction to cell biology

The new text has been carefully geared to introductory students, without any sacrifice of scientific rigor. The book's conceptual approach, in which the essential facts are presented in their biological context, is ideal for engaging and motivating students new to molecular and cell biology. The book is written especially for undergraduates in biological sciences, but its content can be easily understood and absorbed by advanced high-school students who need a basic introduction to the essential topics in modern biology. Here are some of the highlights of the coverage:
-- A superb chapter on proteins takes students step by step from the basic construction of protein molecules to the construction of the protein machines that drive cellular processes.
-- Coverage of genetic variation and recombinant DNA technology offers students an easy-to-understand introduction to the techniques at the frontiers of biological research.
-- The text is enlivened and enriched throughout with examples of practical applications of the basic biological principles presented.
-- Explanations of cell biological processes also show at themolecular level how cancers can arise when the processes go out of control.
-- Fully up-to-date chapters on intracellular membrane traffic, the cytoskeleton, the cell cycle and signal transduction provide a state-of-the-art perspective on these cutting-edge fields at an introductory level.
-- All the illustrations are available on CD-ROM -- enabling instructors to put together individualized presentations in just a few minutes.
-- A Test Bank offers multiple-choice and short-answer questions on each chapter.
-- Slide set
-- Transparencies