Book Summary:
From the spring of 1976 to the fall of 1978, three laboratories raced feverishly to clone a human gene, competing to be the first to organize the mass production of the world's foremost genetically-engineered drug-the life-sustaining hormone insulin.L L In Invisible Frontiers, we are given a behind-the-scenes look at the three main players-Harvard University, the University of California-San Francisco, and a group of young post-docs who later formed Genentech, the first company devoted to the use of genetic engineering in the creation of pharmaceuticals. Physicist-turned-biologist Walter Gilbert, who headed the Harvard University lab, later developed DNA sequencing, the technology that gave birth to the human genome project, based on these events. Author Stephen Hall weaves together the threads of the story-the combativeness of the labs, the clashing egos of scientists, the incursion of commercial interests, the persistent presence of government regulation, the unpredictable effects of local politics, and the triumph of modern-day science-to give us an outstanding journal of scientific research.L L In this fast-paced, gripping narrative Hall captures the highlights-and high jinx-of one of the greatest eras in recent biological history. |