From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine

by Ben Stanger

Overview

Shortlisted for the 2023 Athenaeum of Philadelphia Literary Award

Inside the quest to unlock the mysteries of development—and find the key to transforming our future.

Each of us began life as a single cell. From this humble origin, we embarked on a risky journey fraught with opportunities for disaster. Yet, amazingly, we reached our destination intact, emerging as dazzlingly complex, exquisitely engineered assemblages of trillions of cells. This metamorphosis constitutes one of nature’s most spectacular yet commonplace magic tricks—and one of its most coveted secrets. In From One Cell, physician and researcher Ben Stanger offers a breathtaking glimpse into what scientists are discovering about how life and the body take shape, and how these revelations stand to revolutionize medicine and the future of human health.

In vivid prose, Stanger leads readers on a gripping odyssey retracing this universal, yet unremembered, rite of passage. Through the eyes of the scientists unraveling development’s riddles in experiments as painstaking as they are inventive, we confront fascinating puzzles: how does the plethora of different tissues that compose our bodies arise from a single source? How do cells know what they are meant to become—skin or bone, blood or muscle—when all carry the same set of genetic instructions? Once a cell starts developing down one path, can it change its mind, or is its destiny irrevocably sealed?

As Stanger shows us, the answers to these questions may at last empower us to solve some of our most persistently confounding medical challenges, from cancer to cognitive decline to degenerative disease. Recognizing tumors as evil doppelgangers of the embryo points the way toward new, more targeted cancer therapies. Learning how cells choose their identities and find their way in space could unlock lifesaving breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. The possibilities are extraordinary.

Popular science at its best, From One Cell celebrates the power and beauty of understanding our collective beginnings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324005421
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/08/2023
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	310,292
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Ben Stanger is the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research and a professor of medicine and cell and developmental biology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a practicing gastroenterologist with Penn Medicine. He lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/26/2023

“How does an entire animal... arise from a single cell?” asks Stanger, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in his superb debut. Offering a thorough overview of how single-celled zygotes grow into complex organisms, Stanger profiles researchers whose experiments have contributed to the current scientific understanding of development, starting with English naturalist Robert Hooke’s discovery of cells in 1665 by examining cork under a magnifying glass. Also discussed are French biologists François Jacob and Jacques Monod’s tests in the late 1950s on E. coli bacteria, which found cells acquire specialized roles through the regulation of genes, and German embryologist Hilde Mangold’s 1921 grafts of newt embryos, which revealed that “cells ‘talk’ to one another during development.” Cell research, Stanger contends, holds promise for devising new medical treatments, including the ability to repair damaged nerves after spinal injuries or to disrupt cancer cells’ ability to communicate with and control other cells. The scientific explanations are enlightening and related with helpful analogies (Stanger suggests that each cell contains an organism’s full genome for the same reason actors work from complete scripts, instead of only their own lines), showcasing the surprising and impressive abilities of cells. Readers will marvel at this stimulating and comprehensive deep dive. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Insightful and erudite. . . . Dr. Stanger artfully guides us through key experiments that contributed to the foundations of our knowledge about embryonic development."

Wall Street Journal - Adrian Woolfson

"From the scientific quest to understand how a minuscule fertilized egg becomes a whole person, a universe of human biology opens up, leading to big new ideas for medicine. An inspiring, masterful, and authoritative account of this vital scientific frontier—rendered in brilliant, beautiful prose—From One Cell is about you, your beginning, and your future."

Daniel M. Davis

"Remarkably effective. . . . From One Cell is replete with fascinating stories."

Harvard Magazine - Jonathan Shaw

2023-05-23
Cell research has the potential to unlock a new generation of treatments, according to a leader in the field.

Medical research is a series of small steps, each one building on the lessons learned before. This is the story that gastroenterologist Stanger, who combines cutting-edge research with clinical work, tells in this book. Embryos have long been recognized as the initial phase of life, but they raise the intriguing questions of how cells multiply, how they differentiate and coalesce to form organs, and how they eventually die. Through a series of biographical sketches, Stanger traces the gradual development of the knowledge base, including the unlocking of the connection between cells and genes. Ingenious experiments with frogs and flies provided an understanding of hereditary characteristics and mutations. Many of the breakthroughs came from strange places, such as studies of radiation poisoning, the structure of viruses, and the way that tumors grow. The discovery of DNA was a crucial step, and it paved the way for genetic engineering. Stanger has a particular interest in regenerative medicine, an emerging field that owes much to an understanding of embryo development. It uses cell-based procedures to repair damaged organs, potentially even spinal cords. There are also applications in the treatment of cancer and cognitive decline. The author also highlights important research into the development and transplantation of organs grown artificially. Stanger emphasizes that there is a long way to go, but the potential is huge. Due to the subject matter, parts of the book are complex and require a close reading, but there is a useful glossary of terms, and Stanger does his best to avoid jargon. Ultimately, the author delivers an informative package of how this field of medicine has developed and where it might be going.

An authoritative account of a critical area of medical research and the promises it holds.

Kirkus Reviews

"From One Cell tells the remarkable story of the discoveries that have led to our current understanding of developmental biology, cellular reprogramming, cancer, and regenerative medicine. As a developmental biologist and medical geneticist myself, I picked up the book already familiar with many of these tales, but Stanger brings them and the scientists to such vivid life that I could hardly put it down. A fascinating read."

Tony Wynshaw-Boris

"One of the great mysteries in all of science is how individual fertilized eggs transform into the beautiful, exceedingly complex forms of life we see in nature and in ourselves.… In this knowledge lie seeds that will someday bear fruit in revolutionizing human health. Lucid and engrossing, From One Cell is a wondrous journey into the marvel of how life develops and the future of regenerative medicine."

Cliff Tabin

"Showing the erudition and leaps of imagination of a writer who is deeply immersed in both scientific research and the rich history of human culture, From One Cell is a pleasure to read—elegant, accessible, and endlessly exciting."

Robert A. Weinberg

"Fascinating from beginning to end, Ben Stanger’s From One Cell takes us through the most important journey in all of our lives. Stanger is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide through the science that will impact our lives in the future."

Neil Shubin

"From One Cell marvels in some of the highlights of the field of developmental biology, a discipline whose significance touches so many other areas in the life sciences. A gifted writer, Ben Stanger describes how we came to be from a single cell, emphasizing the incredible good fortune behind each step in this process and employing wonderful metaphors to explain complex phenomena. If you’re even the tiniest bit interested in how all cells in our body came from a single cell, I highly recommend that you read this book."

William Anderson

Noah James Butler guides listeners through what scientists know about life's origins and what remains a puzzle with excitement and a well-placed sense of awe. He narrates clearly at a steady pace, allowing those who may be unfamiliar with medical terminology time to absorb researcher Ben Stanger's findings. This pairs well with Stanger's accessible, energetic writing style. The result is an audiobook that is approachable for biology newcomers without sounding patronizing for more seasoned listeners. Butler's natural enthusiasm for Stanger's work and its implications for the future of medicine leave listeners with a new appreciation for the journey every cell takes as it makes up the human body. C.J.C. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2024 - AudioFile