P53 The Gene That Cracked the Cancer Code by Sue Armstrong
As part of my ongoing reading in the field of genetics and medicine, I picked up a brand new copy of Sue Armstrong's 2015 book P53 The Gene That Cracked the Cancer Code in a Bookgrocers bookstore in November 2018 for the great price of $7. This book is so complex that the blurb is the best way to describe it
All of us have lurking in our DNA a most remarkable gene, which has a crucial job – it protects us from cancer. Known simply as p53, this gene constantly scans our cells to ensure that they grow and divide without mishap, as part of the routine maintenance of our bodies. If a cell makes a mistake in copying its DNA during the process of division, p53 stops it in its tracks, summoning a repair team before allowing the cell to carry on dividing. If the mistake is irreparable and the rogue cell threatens to grow out of control, p53 commands the cell to commit suicide. Cancer cannot develop unless p53 itself is damaged or prevented from functioning normally.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, p53 is the most studied single gene in history.
This book tells the story of medical science's mission to unravel the mysteries of this crucial gene, and to get to the heart of what happens in our cells when they turn cancerous. Through the personal accounts of key researchers, p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code reveals the fascination of the quest for scientific understanding, as well as the huge excitement of the chase for new cures – the hype, the enthusiasm, the lost opportunities, the blind alleys, and the thrilling breakthroughs. And as the long-anticipated revolution in cancer treatment tailored to each individual patient's symptoms begins to take off at last, p53 remains at the cutting edge.
This timely tale of scientific discovery highlights the tremendous recent advances made in our understanding of cancer, a disease that affects more than one in three of us at some point in our lives.
Sue Armstrong is a wonderful writer and the book is a wonderful read about how science is practised and how advances are made. There is no one person who can claim P53. Rather, our knowledge of it has grown over time, with sometimes more than one person or lab working on the same advance. History documents who got there first!
The book is pitched at the normal reader like me; those steeped in bio-med backgrounds may find it a bit light. For me, it was well and truly heavy enough, and took a month, off and on, to get through.
The cloning and sequencing of proteins, once such a huge effort, is now performed routinely and cheaply in labs. Further findings come thick and fast.
This quote from a reviewer sums it up pretty well: A brilliant book which makes usually unreadable science accessible for a mainstream audience.
Junk DNA by Nessa Carey
I was given a $50 bookvoucher for Dymocks Bookshop, Collins St, Melbourne (one of my favourite bookshops) so journeyed there in January 2018 to see what was on offer. I have always been very interested in things scientific and was attracted by Junk DNA: A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the Genome by Nessa Carey.
No one in this day and age can be unaware of the huge scientific advancements in genetics but who actually knows much about it. I was certainly in that category so bought this book.
It was an eye opener. I have not read her previous best seller The Epigenetics Revolution but from what I have read, this book more or less follows on from that and concentrates on the latest developments of the last 10 years.
See Carey talking about her book at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxjQ29mBPJY.
See her also lecturing on Epigenetics at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DAcJSAM_BA.
Ever wondered why you age and why you can't stop the process, however hard you try. Ever wanted confirmation that smoking will take years off your life. The book explains why in laymans language. Ever wondered about all those dreadful diseases and why they occur. You will find the answers here.
There's a lot more going on in our genome than it appears anyone expected even a decade or so ago. This is just incredibly exciting!
Carey discusses the uses and functions of the 98% of DNA that doesn't code for a specific protein (i.e. "Junk DNA"). The topics covered in this book include retrogenes, DNA/RNA repeats, protein sequences, non-protein coding RNAs, telomeres, enhancers, promoters, epigenetics, 3D interatctions, splicing, insulators, centromeres and examples of the various diseases and disorders that can occur when "junk DNA/RNA doesn't function properly.
She writes in a way that makes it intelligible for the non-specialist like me. But it is not an easy read and I had to restrict myself to small bursts.
The Gene An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukharjee (2016)
When I was half way through Carey's book, I was back into Dymocks to spend the rest of the voucher and I decided to continue my genetics education with the book The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Fantastic review at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/25/the-gene-an-intimate-history-siddhartha-mukherjee-review.
His book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer received the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. This book, released in 2016, is another 'biography', this time of the Gene. and it is fantastic. It breaks the story into periods
1865-1935: The development of Science of Heredity
1930-1970: James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Linus Pauling adn the many others who unravelled human DNA an deciphered the mechanisms of genetics
1970-2001: The founding of biotechnology, the spawning of biotech companies, the sequencing and cloning of genes
2001-2015: How human identity is tied to genetics. Why we are all so much the same and yet so different. Epigenetics.
2015-...: Post Genome. What now?
At nearly 600 pages, it is a long read but not a hard one (unlike Nessa Carey's book). Mukherjee is a natural story teller and this book tells the story in an entertaining and enlightening way. One reviewer called it 'the story of what it means to be human'. Yes!
If you read this, you should also read the books Sapiens/Homo Deus by Yuval Harari. They take the big picture view of where we came from and where we are going. This book looks inside the body to answer the same questions.
Now that I have finished it, I must re-read Carey's book. I will absorb a lot more the second time around.
Having read the above books, I browsed my library to see what else I had on this topic, and came across a real gem (well, I actually knew it was there but it sounds better this way!).
I have the second edition (1979) of Steven Rose's book The Chemistry of Life, published by Penguin and running to 301 pages. In the first edition (1966), Rose had attempted to convey the exciting nature of biochemistry to the lay reader. It was, perhaps, inevitable that such a book began to be used as an elementary biochemistry text although this was not its original purpose. The first edition, published in 1966, went through eight reprints and was very popular.
My second edition, released in 1979, had been considerably enhanced to reflect the vast knowledge increase in the intervening 13 years. It remained for many years a clear and authoritative introduction to the world of biochemistry and, interestingly, the 4th and final edition, published in 1991, is still for sale from Dymocks Bookshop in Melbourne. This fourth edition was further updated and revised to include the latest developments in DNA and protein synthesis, cell regulation, and their social and medical implications.
While the books by Carey and Mukherjee are very much for the layman, Rose's book is certainly much closer to a textbook and delves into the cell and its inner working. Definitely not an easy read for a day on the beach, and obviously dated now, nearly 40 years further down the road of discovery. But certainly a great book to be part of any comprehensive library.
Fantastic review at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/25/the-gene-an-intimate-history-siddhartha-mukherjee-review.
His book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer received the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. This book, released in 2016, is another 'biography', this time of the Gene. and it is fantastic. It breaks the story into periods
1865-1935: The development of Science of Heredity
1930-1970: James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Linus Pauling adn the many others who unravelled human DNA an deciphered the mechanisms of genetics
1970-2001: The founding of biotechnology, the spawning of biotech companies, the sequencing and cloning of genes
2001-2015: How human identity is tied to genetics. Why we are all so much the same and yet so different. Epigenetics.
2015-...: Post Genome. What now?
At nearly 600 pages, it is a long read but not a hard one (unlike Nessa Carey's book). Mukherjee is a natural story teller and this book tells the story in an entertaining and enlightening way. One reviewer called it 'the story of what it means to be human'. Yes!
If you read this, you should also read the books Sapiens/Homo Deus by Yuval Harari. They take the big picture view of where we came from and where we are going. This book looks inside the body to answer the same questions.
Now that I have finished it, I must re-read Carey's book. I will absorb a lot more the second time around.
The Chemistry of Life (Second Edition) by Steven Rose with Cath Sanderson
Having read the above books, I browsed my library to see what else I had on this topic, and came across a real gem (well, I actually knew it was there but it sounds better this way!).
I have the second edition (1979) of Steven Rose's book The Chemistry of Life, published by Penguin and running to 301 pages. In the first edition (1966), Rose had attempted to convey the exciting nature of biochemistry to the lay reader. It was, perhaps, inevitable that such a book began to be used as an elementary biochemistry text although this was not its original purpose. The first edition, published in 1966, went through eight reprints and was very popular.
My second edition, released in 1979, had been considerably enhanced to reflect the vast knowledge increase in the intervening 13 years. It remained for many years a clear and authoritative introduction to the world of biochemistry and, interestingly, the 4th and final edition, published in 1991, is still for sale from Dymocks Bookshop in Melbourne. This fourth edition was further updated and revised to include the latest developments in DNA and protein synthesis, cell regulation, and their social and medical implications.
While the books by Carey and Mukherjee are very much for the layman, Rose's book is certainly much closer to a textbook and delves into the cell and its inner working. Definitely not an easy read for a day on the beach, and obviously dated now, nearly 40 years further down the road of discovery. But certainly a great book to be part of any comprehensive library.
