Life Script: How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine and Enhance Your Health - Hardcover

Wade, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743216059 ISBN 13: 9780743216050

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2001

Synopsis

With the decoding of the human genome, researchers can now read the script in which evolution has written the program for the design and operation of the human body. A new generation of medical treatments is at hand. Researchers are developing therapies so powerful that there is now no evident obstacle to the ancient goal of conquering most major diseases. Nicholas Wade has covered the sequencing of the genome, as well as other health and science stories, for The New York Times, in the course of which he has interviewed many of the principal researchers in the field. In this book he describes what the genome means for the health of present and future generations. Someday soon physicians will have access to DNA chips that, from a drop of blood, will screen a person's genes for all the diseases to which he or she may be genetically vulnerable. From full knowledge of the instruction manual of the human body, provided by the genome, pharmaceutical companies hope to develop a new generation of sophisticated drugs; one of the first genome-derived drugs is already undergoing clinical trials. Another vital tool will be regenerative medicine, a new kind of therapy in which new organs and tissues will be grown from a patient's own cells to replace those that are old or diseased. With the help of DNA chips, medical researchers will soon be able to diagnose diseases such as cancer much more precisely and to tailor specific treatments for each patient. Individualized medicine will also become an important part of the pharmaceutical world. Many drugs will be prescribed based on information from DNA chips that identify which of a range of drugs is best for each patient, as well as which drugs are likely to cause side effects. The medicine of the post-genomic era will be customized for a patient's genetic make-up, providing treatments based on a precise understanding of the mechanism of disease. Life Script describes a future in which good health, even perfect health, may become the standard for everyone -- at every age.

About this title

About the Author

Nicholas Wade was born in Aylesbury, England, and was educated at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge. He was deputy editor of Nature magazine in London and then became that journal's Washington correspondent. He joined Science magazine in Washington as a reporter and later moved to The New York Times, where he has been an editorial writer, science editor and now a science reporter. He is the author or coauthor of four previous books and lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

Reviews

By now a familiar name to readers of the New York Times "Science Times" section, Wade, who has written and edited books under the Times aegis, here tells the increasingly familiar tale of the biologists whose race for knowledge, wealth and scientific celebrity led to the first sequencing of the human genome. His stated aim is to describe the "dawning of the genomic revolution," which represents "a new starting point for science and medicine, with potential impact on every disease." In clean prose, an evenly paced narrative economy and a welter of carefully marshaled facts, Wade hits his mark admirably. After lucid chapters on the race itself, Wade settles into the implications of its conclusion. Through genotyping, Wade recounts, doctors will be able to match drugs to patients and isolate disease-causing variant genes. Someday, Wade surmises, the scalpel could be replaced by the use of therapeutic cells and proteins, and our life spans considerably enhanced by the careful manipulation of genes. Although he dismisses most criticism as "invocations of eugenics" or "effectively luddite," Wade warns that the true dangers of genome engineering "lie in the question of what changes should be permitted, if any, other than those directly related to health." Without dumbing down the issues or clogging them with data, Wade allows readers to ponder such questions for themselves. Agent: Peter Matson, Sterling Lord Literistic (Sept. 6)Forecast: Wade's name will be familiar to some, and reviews will make it so to others. This book may not fly off the shelves, but it may prove to be one of the more solid genomic fortune-telling books around, and should sell as such.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

This awe-inspiring account of how the human genome was decoded and its effect on health, medicine, and society is culled primarily from articles that appeared in the New York Times. A former contributor to Nature and Science, Wade is currently a reporter for the Times and the author of four books, including The Science Times Book of Genetics. Intended for the general reader, this volume initially recounts the drama behind the race between the public (academic) and private (commercial) sectors competing to be the first to sequence the human genome. The other half of the text explores how this achievement will perplex ethicists, aid medical research, and ultimately benefit humanity for decades to come. Wade weaves the history of genomics (the study of genes and their function) into the practical and imminent results of the genome project, namely, curing disease and delaying aging. This riveting book is not a typical consumer health title and would have benefited from a glossary. However, its vital information and first-rate storytelling surely deserve a place in large public libraries and large consumer health collections. Gail Hendler, New York Univ. Medical Ctr.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743216059
• ISBN 13: 9780743216050
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208