A Crack in Creation
Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D. is a professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and a researcher in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She is a world-renowned expert in RNA-protein biochemistry, CRISPR biology, and genome engineering. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Samuel H. Sternberg, Ph.D., is a biochemist who has published numerous high-profile scientific papers on CRISPR technology. Beginning in 2018, he will establish his own laboratory at Columbia University as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He currently resides in New York City.
Not since the atomic bomb has a technology alarmed its creators to the point of warning the rest of the world about its potential use. That is, until 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a global moratorium on using the gene-editing tool CRISPR—a revolutionary new technology that she helped develop—to make heritable changes in human embryos. CRISPR, the cheapest, simplest, and most effective way of manipulating DNA ever known, could lead to the cure for HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers. However, even minor changes to DNA can have a wide range of unforeseeable consequences, not to mention the ethical and societal implications of intentionally mutating embryos to create "better" humans. Doudna, who has since won the Nobel Prize for her CRISPR research, writes with fellow researcher Sam Sternberg about her thrilling discovery and the enormous responsibility that comes with the ability to rewrite the code of life.
A Crack in Creation is an important first step in educating the public...it reveals the complex, interconnected, and thoroughly international nature of today's bioscience... CRISPR heralds a new era of massively increased human control over life, one that will directly or indirectly affect every person on Earth, as well as much of the rest of our planet's biosphere. If humans are to harness its benefits, avoid its risks, and use it in ways that are consistent with our values and cultures, we all — not just scientists, ethicists, and patent lawyers — need to understand CRISPR and its implications.
Author: Samuel H. Sternberg and Jennifer A. Doudna
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Crack-Creation-Editing-Unthinkable-Evolution/dp/1328915360/
Ratings: 4.6 out of 5 stars (from 1439 reviews)
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