| Description |
ix, 245 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
1. In the Beginning: The Discovery of Genes -- 2. Cystic Fibrosis -- 3. DNA and the Language of Genes -- 4. Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease -- 5. The Isolation, Cloning, and Transfer of Human Genes -- 6. The Journey Begins: The Clinical Trials for ADA-SCID -- 7. The Clinical Trials for Cystic Fibrosis -- 8. Gene Therapy for Monogenic Disorders: What Have We Learned, and Where Are We Going? -- 9. Gene Therapy for Cancer -- 10. Molecular Medicine and AIDS -- 11. Naked DNA: The Vaccine of the Future -- 12. The Human Genome Project -- 13. The Ethics of Molecular Medicine |
| Summary |
Human beings have on the order of 100,000 different genes encoding the molecules needed to build and operate the human body; defects in any one of them can lead to disastrous consequences. There are an estimated 4,000 genetic disorders, which can be every bit as devastating as the diseases caused by bacteria or viruses, and in one way they are much worse: we pass them on to our children, generation after generation after generation. The New Healers is the story of the devastation these diseases cause, and the scientific researchers and doctors who struggle to combat them. Molecular medicine will be a major part of our lives in the new millennium. The New Healers outlines the powerful and compelling logic behind molecular medicine: everything we know about molecular biology tells us that it can work, and that it will work. Clark introduces us to scientists working now to map out the entire human genome, easily the medical equivalent of going their the moon, taking human beings to a completely new level of understanding of our biological selves. Clark also helps us to begin thinking about how we will manage that understanding, and how we will use the information we gain. The New Healers is a clear and compelling introduction to this important new frontier of human medicine, outlining for readers all the basic elements of molecular biology necessary to understand molecular medicine, and illustrating the fascinating stories of those doctors and patients already a part of this exciting future - a future as full of promise as anything we have witnessed in this past century of remarkable progress |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [233]-236) and index |
| Subject |
Gene therapy -- Popular works.
|
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Genetic Therapy.
|
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Genetic Diseases, Inborn -- therapy.
|
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Genetics.
|
| Genre/Form |
Popular Work.
|
| LC no. |
97009086 |
| ISBN |
0195117301 (cloth : alk. paper) |
|
