Experimental Heart: A Novel. - Hardcover

Rohn, Jennifer L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879698764 ISBN 13: 9780879698768

Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2008

Synopsis

"Engrossing","authentic", "compelling"...just some reactions to the debut novel by UCL cell biologist and well-known blogger Jennifer Rohn. A thriller centered on commercial drug development, the book will be enjoyed by anyone who knows the intense, intimate world of biomedical research. At last, a novel about scientists with characters that are recognizably real!

Andy O'Hara, a post-doctoral researcher in a London cancer research institute, agrees to help an attractive colleague, Gina, who is collaborating with a pharmaceutical company. She is working on a virus-based vaccine but has discovered the company is planning a clinical trial of the vaccine in Africa without preliminary animal tests. Andy gets a tip-off that Gina's corporate collaborator has a shady past, but also discovers a scientific reason why the vaccine may be doomed to failure. Andy and his friend Christine have helped Gina set up an illicit mouse experiment in their own animal facility, a move that could end all their careers if discovered.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Jennifer Rohn is a cell biologist at University College London and founder and editor of LabLit.com, an online magazine devoted to lab culture and fiction. She has appeared on TV, radio, podcasts, live panels, and in print as a science/lit/art/culture pundit, and writes for various publications including Nature and The Scientist. She blogs about the scientific lifestyle at Mind the Gap on Nature Network. Experimental Heart is her first novel.

Review

“Scientific publishers usually work diligently to avoid any allegation of publishing fiction. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, renowned for its prestigious scientific journals and books, smashes that mold with publication of its first novel...It’s a thriller whose subject is romantic self-discovery, and its milieu is the complex world of basic and applied life science research. It’s a good read, as Rohn makes her characters in the laboratory and the biotech communities come alive. I hope it’s a harbinger of more ‘lablit’ to come...Rohn’s skill in melding the scientific and literary worlds will give you a fresh perspective on life and work.” --Cell

“Scientific publishers usually work diligently to avoid any allegation of publishing fiction. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, renowned for its prestigious scientific journals and books, smashes that mold with publication of its first novel...It’s a thriller whose subject is romantic self-discovery, and its milieu is the complex world of basic and applied life science research. It’s a good read, as Rohn makes her characters in the laboratory and the biotech communities come alive. I hope it’s a harbinger of more ablity to come...Rohn’s skill in melding the scientific and literary worlds will give you a fresh perspective on life and work.” --Cell

“Scientific publishers usually work diligently to avoid any allegation of publishing fiction. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, renowned for its prestigious scientific journals and books, smashes that mold with publication of its first novel...It'Â’s a thriller whose subject is romantic self-discovery, and its milieu is the complex world of basic and applied life science research. It'Â’s a good read, as Rohn makes her characters in the laboratory and the biotech communities come alive. I hope it’s a harbinger of more ablity to come...Rohn’s skill in melding the scientific and literary worlds will give you a fresh perspective on life and work."
—Cell

"At the heart of the story, which Rohn tells well...is a mystery that turns on a question of science...Along the way we witness the shifting, nomadic international fellowship of scientists, and especially of postdocs. Rohn aims to change the way in which the reading public thinks about scientists." --Nature

Edition details

• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0879698764
• ISBN 13: 9780879698768
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 364