Learning objectives - each major section begins with Learning Objectives to help organize and focus students' attention on the material.

Summary and Questions - each major section concludes with a review, section summary, and questions, spanning several levels of Bloom's taxonomy.

Margin Notes - major points are summarized as margin notes throughout the text, providing a running outline of the material.

Illustrations and Micrographs - An illustration program of full-color art and micrographs have been developed to complement and reinforce the text.

Key Experiment and Molecular Medicine Essays - designed to provide students with a sense of both the experimental basis of cell and molecular biology and its application to modern medicine. These can also be used for student discussion.

Data Analysis Problems - presents data from original research papers, with questions that engage students in the analysis of experimental methods. These provide material for discussion and opportunities for active learning.

FYI's - Sidebars that provide descriptive highlights of points of interest. These supplements the text ad provides starting points for class discussion.

Chapter Organization – each chapter is divided into three to five major sections, which are further divided into a similar number of sections. The major sections are numbered and self-contained to facilitate assignability.

Key terms and Glossary – key terms are identified as boldfaced words when they are introduced in each chapter and defined in the glossary at the end of the book.

Videos and Animations - helps students understand complex cellular and molecular structures and processes and brings to life concepts discussed in the text.