Hacking the Code of Life: How gene editing will rewrite our futures

by Nessa Carey

Overview

'An excellent, brisk guide to what is likely to happen as opposed to the fantastically remote.' - Los Angeles Review of Books

In 2018 the world woke up to gene editing with a storm of controversy over twin girls born in China with genetic changes deliberately introduced by scientists - changes they will pass on to their own offspring.

Genetic modification (GM) has been with us for 45 years now, but the new system known as CRISPR or gene editing can manipulate the genes of almost any organism with a degree of precision, ease and speed that we could only dream of ten years ago.

But is it ethical to change the genetic material of organisms in a way that might be passed on to future generations? If a person is suffering from a lethal genetic disease, is it unethical to deny them this option? Who controls the application of this technology, when it makes 'biohacking' - perhaps of one's own genome - a real possibility?

Nessa Carey's book is a thrilling and timely snapshot of a cutting-edge technology that will radically alter our futures and the way we prevent disease.

'A focused snapshot of a brave new world.' - Nature

'A brisk, accessible primer on the fast-moving field, a clear-eyed look at a technology that is already driving major scientific advances - and raising complex ethical questions.' - Emily Anthes, Undark

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785786259
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing
Publication date:	07/02/2020
Series:	Hot Science
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Nessa Carey worked in the biotech and pharma industry for thirteen years and is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. Her previous books for Icon are The Epigenetics Revolution (2011), described by The Guardian as ‘a book that would have had Darwin swooning’, and Junk DNA (2015), ‘a cutting-edge guide to the ever-more mysterious genome’ (New Scientist).

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 The Early Days 7

2 Creating the Toolbox to Hack the Code of Life 20

3 Feed the World 33

4 Editing the Animal World 51

5 Gene Editing Ourselves 70

6 Safety First 88

7 Changing the Genome For Ever 98

8 Shall Man Still Have Dominion? 122

9 Pick a Question, Any Question 136

10 Fame and Fortune 149

Notes 161

Index 175

Editorial Reviews

'Carey’s trawl of potential applications - such as high-yield rice varieties, therapies for sickle-cell disease and germline gene editing - is edifying. A focused snapshot of a brave new world.'

Nature Lib

'A brisk, accessible primer on the fast-moving field, a clear-eyed look at a technology that is already driving major scientific advances - and raising complex ethical questions.'

Undark - Emily Anthes

'Junk DNA provides a cutting-edge, exhaustive guide to the rapidly changing, ever-more mysterious genome.'

New Scientist - Linda Geddes

'Carey's enthusiasm for her subject is infectious.... An excellent introduction to a subject that we are certain to be hearing a lot more about in the near future.'

The Register - Mark Diston

'Carey’s trawl of potential applications - such as high-yield rice varieties, therapies for sickle-cell disease and germline gene editing - is edifying. A focused snapshot of a brave new world.'

Nature

'An enlightening introduction to what scientists have learned in the past decade about [epigenetics].'

Wall Street Journal - Carl Zimmer