Gnotobiotics summarizes and analyzes the research conducted on the use of gnotobiotes, providing detailed information regarding actual facility operation and derivation of gnotobiotic animals. In response to the development of new tools for microbiota and microbiome analysis, the increasing recognition of the various roles of microbiota in health and disease, and the consequent expanding demand for gnotobiotic animals for microbiota/microbiome related research, this volume collates the research of this expanding field into one definitive resource. - Reviews and defines gnotobiotic animal species - Analyzes microbiota in numerous contexts - Presents detailed coverage of the protocols and operation of a gnotobiotic facility

Germfree Life and Gnotobiology focuses on the theory and general aspects of germfree research and gnotobiology. Using a phylogenetic approach, the book provides a summary of germfree work in all phyla, from bacteria and viruses to protozoans and invertebrates. It characterizes germfree vertebrates based on data on morphology, biochemistry, nutrition, serology, and physiology. This book is organized into six chapters and begins with an overview of germfree life and gnotobiology, including biological isolation as the basis of germfree life, germfree conditions in nature, and the biological significance of germfree research. A section is devoted to nomenclature and terminology. The chapters on methods and nutrition are sufficiently detailed to serve as guides for experimental work. The book concludes with a chapter on exploratory research that explores the inoculation of germfree animals with known kinds of microorganisms. Terms have been introduced to describe concepts and provide precise communication. This book is a valuable source of information for scientists and researchers engaged in germfree research as a biological tool.

The popularity of germ-free animal models, particularly mice, for investigation of human physiology and disease has recently exploded. Gnotobiotic Mouse Technology: An Illustrated Guide provides the first manual for the maintenance, husbandry, and experimental manipulation of germ-free and gnotobiotic mice. It includes information on all aspects of

The book provides an overview on how the gut microbiome contributes to human health. The readers will get profound knowledge on the connection between intestinal microbiota and immune defense systems. The tools of choice to study the ecology of these highly-specialized microorganism communities such as high-throughput sequencing and metagenomic mining will be presented. In addition the most common diseases associated to the composition of the gut flora are discussed in detail. The book will address researchers, clinicians and advanced students working in biomedicine, microbiology and immunology.

The Laboratory Rat, Volume I: Biology and Diseases focuses on the use of rats in specific areas of research, ranging from dental research to toxicology. The first part of this book retraces the biomedical history of early events and personalities involved in the establishment of rats as a leading laboratory animal. The taxonomy, genetics and inbred strains of rats are also elaborated. The next chapters illustrate the hematology, clinical biochemistry, and anatomical and physiological features of the laboratory rat. This text concludes with a description of infectious diseases that may be contracted from laboratory and/or wild rats. This volume is a good source for commercial and institutional organizations involved in producing rats for research use, specialists in laboratory animal, animal care and research technicians, as well as students in graduate and professional curricula.

“Engineering” has firmly taken root in the entangled bank of biology even as proposals to remake the living world have sent tendrils in every direction, and at every scale. Nature Remade explores these complex prospects from a resolutely historical approach, tracing cases across the decades of the long twentieth century. These essays span the many levels at which life has been engineered: molecule, cell, organism, population, ecosystem, and planet. From the cloning of agricultural crops and the artificial feeding of silkworms to biomimicry, genetic engineering, and terraforming, Nature Remade affirms the centrality of engineering in its various forms for understanding and imagining modern life. Organized around three themes—control and reproduction, knowing as making, and envisioning—the chapters in Nature Remade chart different means, scales, and consequences of intervening and reimagining nature.

The book provides an overview on how the microbiome contributes to human health and disease. The microbiome has also become a burgeoning field of research in medicine, agriculture & environment. The readers will obtain profound knowledge on the connection between intestinal microbiota and immune defense systems, medicine, agriculture & environment. The book may address several researchers, clinicians and scholars working in biomedicine, microbiology and immunology. The application of new technologies has no doubt revolutionized the research initiatives providing new insights into the dynamics of these complex microbial communities and their role in medicine, agriculture & environment shall be more emphasized. Drawing on broad range concepts of disciplines and model systems, this book primarily provides a conceptual framework for understanding these human-microbe, animal-microbe & plant-microbe, interactions while shedding critical light on the scientific challenges that lie ahead. Furthermore this book explains why microbiome research demands a creative and interdisciplinary thinking—the capacity to combine microbiology with human, animal and plant physiology, ecological theory with immunology, and evolutionary perspectives with metabolic science.This book provides an accessible and authoritative guide to the fundamental principles of microbiome science, an exciting and fast-emerging new discipline that is reshaping many aspects of the life sciences. These microbial partners can also drive ecologically important traits, from thermal tolerance to diet in a typical immune system, and have contributed to animal and plant diversification over long evolutionary timescales. Also this book explains why microbiome research presents a more complete picture of the biology of humans and other animals, and how it can deliver novel therapies for human health and new strategies.