Pattern formation has fascinated biologists since the time of Aristotle, but only recently have new tools begun to reveal the underlying mechanisms that create these patterns during development. In particular, the central nervous system is dynamically patterned and highly modular, ranging from nuclear cell clusters in the brain stem and spinal cord to the elaborate cytoarchitecture of the neocortex. Similar developmental processes divide brain structures such as the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, superior colliculus, and cerebellum into these sub-compartments. The way neural modules form and the mechanisms that establish connectivity between these modules is one of the most complex problems in neuroscience and also one of the most important. This monograph focuses on pattern formation in the developing cerebellum.

Dr. Carol Armstrong completed her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Calgary and a Masters Degree in Anatomy and Neurobiology at Dalhousie University under the mentorship of Dr. David Hopkins. She returned to the University of Calgary as a CIHR-funded doctoral student and completed a Ph.D. in Neuroscience with Dr. Richard Hawkes, focusing her studies on heat shock proteins and pattern formation in the developing cerebellum. Following three years as a CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellow in Dr Dennis O'Leary's Molecular Neurobiology lab at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, CA), Carol accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Science at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, ON (2005-2010). She is currently an Associate Professor in Biology at Mount Royal University (Calgary, AB) with an adjunct appointment in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary. Richard Hawkes, Ph.D., graduated from University College London and the University of Hull in the U.K., and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Oregon U.S. and the Friedrich Miescher Institut in Basel Switzerland, before taking up an academic appointment at Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada in 1982. It was during that time he discovered the markers of cerebellar compartmentation known as zebrins. He moved to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada in 1989, where he served first as Head of Cell Biology and Anatomy, subsequently as Associate Dean Graduate Studies, Senior Associate Dean Research, and Associate Vice President Research, and latterly as doting grandfather. In 2005 he was awarded Doctor of Medicine (honoris causa) from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has served on multiple editorial boards, granting panels, and advisory committees to both government and the private sector. He is currently Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy, and a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute at the University of Calgary. His research for over 25 years has focused on pattern formation during cerebellar development. His 300-odd publications have been cited over 10,000 times.