Amil Shah – författare
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2 produkter
2 produkter
220 kr
Skickas inom 3-6 vardagar
As recently as the middle of this century, cancer was still a mysterious disease. It seemed to strike with reckless abandon, and once it had gripped its victim, doctors could do little more than relieve the pain, steady the pulse and ease the breathing. It is all too easy now to reflect on this sad state of affairs without realizing that cell biology itself was also a rudimentary science. In the past few years, a vastly different view of cancer has emerged. The highly sophisticated tools of genetic engineering have allowed biologists to look deep into the inner provinces of the cell, and what they have learned is taking biology and medicine in a completely new direction. Only a decade ago, the concept of gene therapy was unknown to most scientists and clinicians. The problems of such therapy were thought to be insurmountable and not given serious consideration. The striking advances in our understanding of cancer in the recent past have, however, changed all of this. It is astonishing how much progress has been made in such a short time; biology has moved from strength to strength, and what seemed daunting not so long ago can now be confidently tackled. The road to this new understanding of how a cell works and what makes it malignant has not always been easy, but the great achievements are undeniable. With today’s cell biology comes the promise of a totally new kind of treatment.
182 kr
Skickas inom 3-6 vardagar
Our Genetic Destiny is a fascinating account of the origin, evolution, and organization of our genes. At the heart of life, genes tell our cells what to do, when to grow, and what to become. They are passed on faithfully from one generation to the next, from parent to child, a seemingly comfortable constant across millennia. In the past few years, however, genes have been found to be imponderably complex, more subtle and intricate than we ever imagined. They amplify and duplicate themselves; they leap from one chromosome to another; they reshuffle to create new images of themselves. Far from being predictably stable, following a preset schedule, genes are surprisingly versatile. Biologists are now able to retrace the steps to the origin of life when the first cell appeared some 3.8 billion years ago. Ever since, the descendants of that original ancestor have become increasingly diverse. This upward trend, punctuated by bursts of innovations, is underpinned by the genes, which are organized into elaborate networks. Understanding the nature of this genetic architecture is a long quest of biologists, who seek to find the unifying principle that governs life. As the outlines of this come into sharp focus, we are granted unparalleled insights into our genetic past, present, and future. The new knowledge about genes has important practical implications. As we understand in greater detail how living cells work, the causes of some crippling and dreaded diseases are being unraveled. This information is already being used to craft new drugs to deal with a wide range of illnesses, sush as blood disorders like thalassaemia and heaemophilia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystriophy, cardeovascular diseases, cancer, and AIDS. Our Genetic Destiny provides a stimulating description of what may well be science’s greatest and most challenging field.