Life Script: How the Human Genome Discoveries Will Transform Medicine and Enhance Your Health

by Nicholas Wade

With the decoding of the human genome, researchers can now read the genetic program that evolution has written for the human body. A new generation of medical treatments is at hand, and researchers hope to uncover the genetic roots of illness and develop new therapies for most major diseases. Here, New York Times science writer Nicholas Wade describes the race to decode the genome and how the new knowledge will transform medicine. Soon, physicians will be able to screen people's genes for all the diseases to which they may be vulnerable. With the emerging art of regenerative medicine, physicians will use stem cells and genomic techniques to replace failing tissues and organs with new ones. Many drugs will be prescribed based on DNA information that will identify which pharmaceuticals are best for each patient. Medicine will be customized for a patient's genetic makeup, providing treatments based on a precise understanding of the mechanism of disease itself. It may even be possible to extend the human life span by manipulating the genes that control it.

Genres: Science, Medicine

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1901

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in a used bookstore in south Africa and bought it because I had really enjoyed a previous work by Nicholas Wade on fraud in science. This was a fascinating introduction into the politics and personalities around the human genome revolution. It provides an easy to understand introduction into genomic medicine and what the sequencing of the human genome may mean for medical science and human longevity. It is a bit out of date now, being some 10 years old, but it made me want to follow up and see where the cutting edge of genomic science is now.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

non-fiction. read a while ago. this is/worth reading.
at the time 2002 it seemed far-fetched (when i discussed it at dinner time conversation) - although i believed it then.
here are some pages that i noted in the front pages in pencil (do not write in books so this must say something).p. 21,28,79,86, 150, 170....

[Cassandra Kay Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing, great topic. Short but lots of good information. Very enjoyable overall.