Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome

Ramakrishnan, Venki (Bal Khakh)

ISBN 10: 0465093361 / ISBN 13: 9780465093366

Published by Basic Books, 2018

About this Item

Signed for Royal Society Fellow Bal Khakh on the title page. Book has a light lean. Jacket has light wear on perimeter. Fine unmarked content.

Seller Inventory # 166-VR

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465093361
• ISBN 13: 9780465093366
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

A Nobel Prize-winning biologist tells the riveting story of his race to discover the inner workings of biology's most important molecule

"Ramakrishnan's writing is so honest, lucid and engaging that I could not put this book down until I had read to the very end." -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene

Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome -- an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms -- that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us. Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases. But this is also a human story of Ramakrishnan's unlikely journey, from his first fumbling experiments in a biology lab to being the dark horse in a fierce competition with some of the world's best scientists. In the end, Gene Machine is a frank insider's account of the pursuit of high-stakes science.

About the Author

Venki Ramakrishnan shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for uncovering the structure of the ribosome. He is a senior scientist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, and was the president of the Royal Society in London from 2015-2020.