From Loss to Memory
From Loss to Memory
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.
- The first book which will describe the discovery of synaptic pruning, allowing readers to understand the subject in a new light
- An engrossing biography of the scientist behind the discovery, from childhood in war-torn Germany to immigration and discoveries in medical science
- Written in a topical and accessible way, this book discussed the potential for knowledge of synaptic pruning to further discoveries in brain function in areas such as learning, memory, autism, schizophrenia and neurodegeneration
Reviews & endorsements
'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
Product details
September 2024Paperback
9781009267069
161 pages
234 × 156 × 9 mm
0.256kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 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.
