The Code Breaker

I found it absolutely fascinating to learn how bacteria evolved to use dna from viruses to protect themselves from infections. This led to humans learning how to use bacterias’ system to edit genes too, ultimately leading to Covid vaccines. It encapsulates how human curiosity has changed the world over history, and will continue to do so, while we exist as a species.

I have received the book very next day in the morning 🤩👍.. only the pages in the book were torn as seen on the pictures apart from that .. Very Amazing 😁

Isaacson brings the science of gene editing to life with clarity and warmth. Complex concepts are explained in an accessible way, and he highlights the humanity of the scientists involved, touching on their rivalries and motivations but also really helping the reader get to know them. Perhaps surprisingly, it reads like a gripping story. This is a must-read. I was disappointed to reach the end. But it feels like only the beginning of genomics. This book does an excellent job of raising awareness and understanding of a hugely important technology. Yes the part of morality was a bit different from the overall story, as other reviewers have said. But it was thought provoking and these issues cannot be ignored.

I throughly enjoyed reading this book, the narrative carries u along the discovery of CRISPER and its massive impact on science and society. There r loads of names n lots of scientific terms yet the major figures and terminology r constantly referenced so we can still follow the threads of the narrative. At times the time spent on the ethical arguments seem a bit too protracted and repetitive, but that is merely nitpicking to find fault. An excellent book for readers who lack a science background.

For the first time in the evolution of life on this planet, a species (Homo sapiens) developed the capacity to edit its own genetic make up. It is now possible to carry out genome modifications in the germline that is in sperms, eggs and early stage embryos, thereby altering the genetic make up of every differentiated cell with the result that these changes will be passed on to the organism's progeny and all subsequent generations. It is only prudent that we now pause until the societal, ethical and philosophical implications of germline editing are properly and thoroughly discussed. I wish, however, to clarify that there has already been general acceptance of somatic editing that is changes that are made in targeted cells of a living patient and do not affect reproductive cells. If something goes wrong in these therapies, it can be disastrous for the individual but not the species. The book covers, in chronological order, a time span of 160 years from Darwin's publication 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859 to the development of mRNA vaccines against the coronavirus in 2020. A fascinating aspect is that the book is not written in the abstract but through the personalities of scientists involved in the race for gene editing, their cooperation, rivalries, patents, forming companies, therapies, prizes, moral issues and the corona virus. The main rivalry was between Jennifer Doudna and her research associates at Berkeley and Feng Shang at the Broad Institute in Cambridge Massachusetts. The winner was Doudna who shared with Emmanuelle Charpentier the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2020. A starting point leading to the discovery of the gene editing system is the year 1990 when Francisco Mojica in sequencing genome regions of archaea (a kind of bacteria), spotted fourteen identical DNA sequences which repeated at regular intervals and between them were 'spacer' segments. They seemed to be palindromes, meaning they read the same backward and forward. Searching the literature, he found that Yoshimuzi Ishino studying E. Coli, a very different bacteria, similarly spotted these repeated sequences and spacer segments. This convinced Mojica that the phenomenon must have some important biological significance. Mojica coined the acronym CRISPR, for 'clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats.' In most organisms that had CRISPRs, the repeated sequences were flanked by one of several genes, which encoded directions for making an enzyme. These were named 'CRISPR - associated or Cas enzymes. What fascinated Mojica were the spacers, those regions of normal looking DNA segments that were nestled in between the repeated CRISPR segments. He took the spacer sequences of E. Coli and run them through databases. What he found was intriguing: the spacer segments matched sequences that were in viruses that attacked E. coli. He found the same thing when he looked at other bacteria with CRISPR sequences; their spacer segments matched those of viruses that attacked that bacteria. Mojica found that bacteria with CRISPR spacer sequences seemed to be immune from a virus that had the same sequence. But bacteria without the spacer were in fact infected. It was a pretty ingenious defense system, but there was something even cooler: it appeared to adapt to new threats. When new viruses came along, the bacteria that survived were able to incorporate some of that virus DNA and that create, in its progeny, an acquired immunity to that new virus. Mojica published a paper with his findings which was the beginning of a wave of articles providing evidence that CRISPR was, indeed, an immune system that bacteria adapted whenever they got attacked by a new type of virus. By 2009 there was consensus that the Cas 9 was the most interesting of the CRISPR - associated enzymes. Researchers had shown that if you deactivated Cas 9 in bacteria, no longer cut up the invading viruses. They had also established the essential role of another part of the complex: CRISPR RNA, known as crRNA. These are small snippets of RNA that contain some genetic coding from a virus that had attacked the bacteria in the past. This crRNA guides the Cas enzymes to attack that virus when t tries to invade again. These two elements are the core of the CRISPR system: a small snippet of RNA that acts as a guide and an enzyme that acts as scissors. But there was one additional element of the CRISPR - Cas9 system that played an essential role, in fact, two roles. It was dubbed as 'trans - activating CRISPR RNA' or tracrRNA, pronounced 'tracer - RNA.' First, it facilitates the making of crRNA sequence that carries the memory of a virus that previously attacked the bacteria. Then it serves as a handle to latch on the invading virus so that crRNA can target the right spot for the Cas9 enzyme to chop. As I have indicated in the beginning of the review the CRISPR - Cas9 system has been adapted from bacteria to edit human genes. The distinguished Israeli author, Yuval Noah Harari, has aptly remarked that Homo sapiens has become Homo Deus.

For most of the book, the story is enthralling and tells the CRISPR story well. There are some parts, notably those on morality, that ramble on a bit and detract from the science. However overall it is a great book and foretells what great changes CRISPR will bring to our lives, and to society.

Covering the most significant advance in recent sciences from the discovery of DNA to the creation of Vivid vaccines, Issacson's book is accessible to everyone and is as gripping as any thriller. A real page turner and an important book that can bring science, curiosity & discovery into everyone's lives. An absolute must read!

I'd bought the author's biography of Steve Jobs but have never managed to get through it. THIS book took me just two days to read and held my attention through every page; falls into convenient quarters if the reader needs to break the reading up. Excellent account of what drives a Nobel winner. Excellent account of a development that may become important in what is left of my lifetime.