Redesigning life : how genome editing will transform the world

371 Pages·2016·7.389 MB·English

by  John Parrington

REDESIGNING LIFE

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank a number of people who have helped bring this, my
second book, to fruition. I owe a particular debt to Latha Menon, my
editor at Oxford University Press, who always expertly balances her critical
comments with great encouragement about the work at hand. I would also
like to thank Jenny Nugee of the OUP editorial team, for her help on a multi-
tude of practical matters, and Elizabeth Stone at Bourchier Limited for her
meticulous copy-editing of the book. I gained some extremely valuable in-
sights and suggestions for changes to the text from Margarida Ruas, as well
as some very helpful comments from three anonymous reviewers who read
my original proposal and one who read a late draft of the book. Margarida
Ruas also produced a superb set of line drawings. I also owe many thanks to
Anthony Morgan for producing the author photo for the book cover. For
their expert assistance with marketing and publicity, and answers to my
many questions on this front, I would like to thank Phil Henderson and Kate
Farquhar-Thomson of OUP. I owe thanks also to friends and colleagues
who have indulged my many speculations about the new technologies de-
scribed in the book, as well as providing helpful feedback and suggestions.
My final set of thanks is to my family, for providing such a warm and lovely
home environment that meant so much to me during the long hours spent
on researching and writing. Finally, there is a debt that is hard to express
adequately in words, and that is to my mother. As well as her encourage-
ment at every stage of my life, through both ups and downs, she also com-
municated her great love of books and reading, her ability to look for the
positive in every situation, and a questioning and enquiring attitude to life.
It is to her memory that I dedicate this book.

CONTENTS
List of Plates ix
List of Figures xi
Introduction: The Gene Revolution 1
1. Natural Born Mutants 7
2. Supersize My Mouse 31
3. Light as a Life Tool 58
4. The Gene Scissors 82
5. Next Year’s Models 109
6. The Molecular Farm 130
7. New Gene Therapy 153
8. Regenerating Life 181
9. Life as a Machine 205
10. A Redesigned Planet? 229
Glossary 291
Endnotes 293
Index of names 337
Index of subjects 343

LIST OF PLATES
1. Brainbow identifies neurons by colour.
Jeff Lichtman, Harvard University
2. Injection of a human fertilized egg.
Sebastian Kaulitzki, Science Photo Library
3. Bacteriophage infecting a bacterium.
AMI Images, Science Photo Library
4. Human brain organoid with different structures.
IMBA/Madeline Lancaster
ix