April 22, 2005
"User's guide" to the human genome
A research scientist who specializes in the genetics of glaucoma has written a book explaining why just about everyone needs to acquire a basic vocabulary in genetics. According to Julia E. Richards, Ph.D., “This book is for those who want to learn enough about their own genomes to take advantage of advances in genetic medicine likely to emerge in this century.”
Dr. Richards and co-author R. Scott Hawley, Ph.D., have written The Human Genome: A User’s Guide. In user-friendly language, they lay out the basics of genetics, the tremendous advances in genetic research in recent years, and the very real and personal way that it affects human lives.
The authors set the stage with a warm and personal portrait of Brenda, a graduate student who worked in Dr. Hawley’s laboratory. In telling Brenda’s story, they reveal her struggle with leukemia as well as current research on therapies, such as “molecular lances,” that can target leukemia and other cancer cells. These drugs and therapies show promise, they say, but, sadly, too late for Brenda.
Written for the non-scientist, the book provides a straightforward, but detailed explanation of genetics. Among the topics: how genes work and how they control the activity of the cell, concepts of heredity, how mutations arise, developments in cloning and genetic therapies, and discoveries of genes related to cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, glaucoma, and a host of lesser known conditions.
A section is devoted to the Human Genome Project, describing the success of the project and the hard questions that arise from it, such as genetic self-determination and how to deal with things we can test for but cannot treat.
Dr. Richards is Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Hawley is an Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and a Professor of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
When Dr. Richards started graduate school, finding part of a gene was cutting-edge science. Now genomic experiments evaluate tens of thousands of genes at once.
“We are at the beginning of something quite wonderful, she adds. “I trust that we will proceed with the right mix of hope and caution as we translate genetics advances into new gene-based medicines.
The Human Genome: A User's Guide, Second Edition is available at www.amazon.com and through the publisher at www.books.elsevier.com
Table of Contents
Contact: Betsy Nisbet, 734.647.5586, bsnisbet@umich.edu
