A Crack in Creation

BY THE WINNER OF THE 2020 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY | Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

"A powerful mix of science and ethics . . . This book is required reading for every concerned citizen--the material it covers should be discussed in schools, colleges, and universities throughout the country."-- New York Review of Books

Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about its use. That is, until 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the gene-editing tool CRISPR--a revolutionary new technology that she helped create--to make heritable changes in human embryos. The cheapest, simplest, most effective way of manipulating DNA ever known, CRISPR may well give us the cure to HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers. Yet even the tiniest changes to DNA could have myriad, unforeseeable consequences, to say nothing of the ethical and societal repercussions of intentionally mutating embryos to create "better" humans. Writing with fellow researcher Sam Sternberg, Doudna--who has since won the Nobel Prize for her CRISPR research--shares the thrilling story of her discovery and describes the enormous responsibility that comes with the power to rewrite the code of life.

"The future is in our hands as never before, and this book explains the stakes like no other." -- George Lucas

"An invaluable account . . . We owe Doudna several times over." -- Guardian

Author Notes

DR. JENNIFER A. DOUDNA runs a research laboratory and institute at UC Berkeley and is a leading expert on RNA-protein biochemistry, CRISPR biology, and genome engineering. Along with Emmanuelle Charpentier, she was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their research on CRISPR-Cas9.

DR. SAMUEL H. STERNBERG is a biochemist and CRISPR expert and will start his own laboratory as assistant professor at Columbia University, beginning in 2018.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Doudna, professor of biology at UC-Berkeley, and Sternberg, her former graduate student and current collaborator, explain the basics of the potentially revolutionary CRISPR technology, the events leading up to Doudna's discovery of that technology, and the ethical dilemmas posed by the newfound ability to alter any living being's genetic composition. The authors describe the biological mechanisms in a way that nonspecialists can appreciate, though the simplistic diagrams scattered throughout add little to the text. They also enthusiastically survey many of the uses to which CRISPR technology has already been applied, noting the great interest by venture capitalists who have already invested well over $1 billion in this technology. Doudna and Sternberg make a clear distinction between manipulating reproductive and non-reproductive cells, since the former can cause permanent evolutionary shifts. The second half of the book delves into the ethical implications arising from this difference, thoughtfully covering effects on both human and non-human species. Though the authors note that science involves both "competition and collaboration," they avoid discussion of the myriad conflicts that exist in this exciting new field-an absence that makes the rosy picture presented in this otherwise excellent book just a bit too unbelievable. Illus. Agent: Max Brockman, Brockman Inc. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Excerpts

PROLOGUE THE WAVE In my dream, I am standing on a beach. To either side of me, a long, salt-and-pepper strip of sand runs along the water, outlining a large bay. It is, I realize, the shore of the island of Hawaii where I grew up: the edge of Hilo Bay, where I once spent weekends with friends watching canoe races and searching for shells and the glass balls that sometimes washed ashore from Japanese fishing boats. But today there are no friends, canoes, or fishing boats in sight. The beach is empty, the sand and water unnaturally still. Beyond the break-water, light plays gently along the surface of the ocean, as if to soothe the fear I've carried since girlhood -- the dread that haunts every Hiloan, no matter how young. My generation grew up without experiencing a tsunami, but we have all seen the photos. We know our town sits in the inundation zone. As if on cue, I see it in the distance. A wave. It is tiny at first but grows by the second, rising before me in a towering wall, its crest of whitecaps obscuring the sky. Behind it are other waves, all rolling toward the shore. I am paralyzed with fear -- but as the tsunami looms closer, my terror gives way determination. I notice a small wooden shack behind me. It is my friend Pua's place, with a pile of surfboards scattered out front. I grab one and splash into the water, paddle out into the bay, round the breakwater, and head directly into the oncoming waves. Before the first one overtakes me, I'm able to duck through it, and when I emerge on the other side, I surf down the second. As I do, I soak in the view. The sight is amazing -- there's Mauna Kea and, beyond it, Mauna Loa, rising protectively above the bay and reaching toward the sky. I blink awake in my Berkeley, California, bedroom, thousands of miles away from my childhood home. It is July 2015, and I am in the middle of the most exciting, overwhelming year of my life. I've begun having dreams like this regularly, and the recognition of their deeper meaning comes easily now. The beach is a mirage, but the waves, and the tangle of emotions they inspire -- fear, exultation, hope, and awe -- are only too real. My name is Jennifer Doudna. I am a biochemist, and I have spent the majority of my career in a laboratory, conducting research on topics that most people outside of my field have never heard of. In the past half decade, however, I have become involved in a groundbreaking area of the life sciences, a subject whose progress cannot be contained by the four walls of any academic research center. My colleagues and I have been swept up by an irresistible force not unlike the tsunami in my dream -- except this tidal wave is one that I helped trigger. By the summer of 2015, the biotechnology that I'd helped establish only a few years before was growing at a pace that I could not have imagined. And its implications were seismic -- not just for the life sciences, but for all life on earth. This book is its story, and mine. It is also yours. Because it won't be long before the repercussions from this technology reach your doorstep too. Excerpted from A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer A. Doudna, Samuel H. Sternberg All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.