Reshaping Life

Genetic engineering is one of the most exciting scientific developments this century and this book, an updated version of Sir Gustav Nossal's highly successful first edition, is a simple exposition of this complex subject and its related ethical issues. Comprehensible to the intelligent layman, it describes the fundamentals of molecular genetics and the principles of genetic engineering. The various ways in which gene transfer has revolutionized medical science and the potential for its use in agriculture, mining and waste disposal are described as well as the industries that have grown up based on this technology. The final chapters discuss the ethical considerations, the public policy implications and the future. This new edition contains updated material on the recent technological advances in the field of gene cloning (e.g. genetic fingerprinting) and some early chapters have been extensively updated by Dr Ross Coppel to make the biological concepts even easier to grasp.