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Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
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In Regenesis, George Church and science writer Ed Regis explore the possibilities of the emerging field of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology, in which living organisms are selectively altered by modifying substantial portions of their genomes, allows for the creation of entirely new species of organisms. These technologies-far from the out-of-control nightmare depicted in science fiction-have the power to improve human and animal health, increase our intelligence, enhance our memory, and even extend our life span. A breathtaking look at the potential of this world-changing technology, Regenesis is nothing less than a guide to the future of life.
- ISBN-13978-0465021758
- Edition1st
- PublisherBasic Books
- Publication dateApril 8, 2014
- LanguageEnglish
- File size2291 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
[A]n important and surprisingly accessible book, magisterially structured to intertwine the accelerated history of synthetic biology with its precedents in humanity's earlier technological revolutions and in the epochal evolution of life itself. The book packs in a superb short course on life's molecular workings, enabling the reader to grasp how we can actually contemplate resurrecting mammoths and Neanderthals, brewing biofuel from seawater and sunlight, engineering total immunity to viral infection, storing data in DNA, and more.”
Nathan Myhrvold, Founder and CEO, Intellectual Ventures
A delightfully opinionated, visionary and controversial romp through synthetic biology, which is one of the most important technologies of our time."
Science News
Reading the first book penned by Church, a Harvard biologist and polymath, is like falling down a rabbit hole straight into his fermenting brain. Church's wide-ranging career includes developing novel methods for reading the genetic instruction manual, or genome, of creatures from bacteria to humans. Now he focuses on synthesizing those instructions from scratch.... [A] dizzying survey of how scientists have unearthed the secrets of living organisms and are now using that information to revamp life itself.”
Robert T. Gonzalez, io9
[A] phenomenal read.”
Wall Street Journal
A definitive account of the advances and business ventures that define this new science [of synthetic biology] . When history is written centuries from now, it is more likely that writing DNA will be the most enduring innovation [of our age].”
New Scientist
Bold and provocative Church and Regis offer a behind-the-scenes look at synthetic biology, a rapidly emerging field that is reprogramming the genetic code to create organisms and functions not found in nature. Regenesis tells of recent advances that may soon yield endless supplies of renewable energy, increased longevity and the return of long-extinct species.”
Nature
The life sciences emerge as the new high-tech in this paean to synthetic biology . Each step in the genome's evolution serves as a springboard for expositions of how synthetic biology will revolutionize renewable energy, multivirus resistance, and more.”
Mike Loukides, O'Reilly Radar
If there's one book that can turn this movement into a full-blown revolution, this is it.”
Derek Jacoby, O'Reilly Radar
George Church and Ed Regis pull off an exciting and speculative romp through the field of synthetic biology and where it could take us in the not too distant future . Regenesis provides an accessible and engaging introduction to the revolutionary potentials of synthetic biology and should be of interest to both experts and a general science audience.”
Eric Topol, Professor of Genomics, The Scripps Research Institute, and author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
Literally reinventing nature could provide solutions to intractable problems with the energy supply, global warming, and human health. In Regenesis, George Church, a pioneer and pre-eminent force in promoting our ability to read DNA sequence, now guides us to the future: writing DNA sequence. Teaming up with Ed Regis, Church provides a mind-bending, tour de force account of how this seventh industrial revolution will take hold, and how ultimately the survival of our planet and the human species may rely upon rewriting the code of life. An enthralling journey into the futurewith truly profound implicationsthat should not be missed.”
Stewart Brand, author of Whole Earth Discipline
Here you will find the bleeding, screaming, thrilling edges of what is becoming possible with genomic engineering, handsomely framed in the fine-grained fundamentals of molecular biology. It is a combination primer and forecast of what is coming in this century of biology' from the perspective of a leading pioneer in the science.”
Kirkus Reviews
[An] authoritative, sometimes awe-inspiring book . A valuable glimpse of science at the edge.” --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
About the Author
Ed Regis is author of seven science books, most recently What Is Life?: Investigating the Nature of Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology. He lives in Sabillasville, Maryland.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Review
―Wall Street Journal
"[A]n important and surprisingly accessible book, magisterially structured to intertwine the accelerated history of synthetic biology with its precedents in humanity's earlier technological revolutions and in the epochal evolution of life itself. The book packs in a superb short course on life's molecular workings, enabling the reader to grasp how we can actually contemplate resurrecting mammoths and Neanderthals, brewing biofuel from seawater and sunlight, engineering total immunity to viral infection, storing data in DNA, and more."
―The Scientist
"The life sciences emerge as the new high-tech in this paean to synthetic biology.... Each step in the genome's evolution serves as a springboard for expositions of how synthetic biology will revolutionize renewable energy, multivirus resistance, and more."
―Nature
"If you have never seriously considered resurrecting a species, creating mirror humans or building a 'reduced instruction set organism,' this will be a wake-up call to the possibilities inherent in our growing toolkit with the machinery of life."―io9
"Synthetic biology could extend life and even revive extinct species, but as this book reveals, we must face up to the ethical issues it brings, and soon."―New Scientist, Top 10 Science Books of 2012
"Church and Regis in Regenesis have written a wonderful synopsis of the emerging field of synthetic biology and the implications from renewable plastics to 'raising the dead.' This is a must-read for anyone interested in the future."―J. Craig Venter, Chairman and President, J. Craig Venter Institute
"A thoughtful introduction to one of the great frontiers of science, one with the promise of literally saving the world. George Church is one of the most brilliant scientists in the world, and in collaboration with Ed Regis he has written a book that is engaging, readable, and thoroughly fascinating."―Steven Pinker
"Literally reinventing nature could provide solutions to intractable problems with the energy supply, global warming, and human health. In Regenesis, George Church, a pioneer and pre-eminent force in promoting our ability to read DNA sequence, now guides us to the future: writing DNA sequence. Teaming up with Ed Regis, Church provides a mind-bending account of how this revolution will take hold, and how ultimately the survival of our planet and the human species may rely upon rewriting the code of life. An enthralling journey and a phenomenal book."―Eric Topol, author of Deep Medicine
"Here you will find the bleeding, screaming, thrilling edges of what is becoming possible with genomic engineering, handsomely framed in the fine-grained fundamentals of molecular biology. It is a combination primer and forecast of what is coming in this 'century of biology' from the perspective of a leading pioneer in the science."―Stewart Brand,author of Whole Earth Discipline --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1. -3,800 Myr, Late Hadean
At the Inorganic/Organic Interface
2. -3,500 Myr, Archean
Reading the Most Ancient Texts and the Future of Living Software
3. -500 Myr, Cambrian
The Mirror World and the Explosion of Diversity. How Fast Can Evolution Go and How Diverse Can It Be?
4. -360 Myr, Carboniferous
The Best Substitute for Petroleum Is Petroleum”
5. -60 Myr, Paleocene
Emergence of Mammalian Immune System. Solving the Health Care Crisis Through Genome Engineering
6. -30,000 yr, Pleistocene Park
Engineering Extinct Genomes
7. -10,000 yr, Neolithic
Industrial Revolutions. The Agricultural Revolution and Synthetic Genomics. The BioFab Manifesto
8. -100 yr, Anthropocene
The Third Industrial Revolution. iGEM
9. -1 yr, Holocene
From Personal Genomes to Immortal Human Components
Epigenetic Epilogue: +1 yr, The End of the Beginning, Transhumanism, and the Panspermia Era
Societal Risks and Countermeasures
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B00HTQ326W
- Publisher : Basic Books; 1st edition (April 8, 2014)
- Publication date : April 8, 2014
- Language : English
- File size : 2291 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 306 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #622,975 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #72 in Biotechnology (Kindle Store)
- #121 in Genetic Science
- #478 in Evolution (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

George Church is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Director of PersonalGenomes.org, providing the world's only open-access information on human genome & trait data. His 1984 Harvard PhD included the first direct genome sequencing, molecular multiplexing & barcoding. These lead to the first commercial genome sequence (pathogen, Helicobacter pylori) in 1994. His innovations in "next generation" genome sequencing & synthesis & cell/tissue engineering resulted in 12 companies including medical genomics (Knome, Alacris, AbVitro, GoodStart, Pathogenica) & synthetic biology (LS9, Joule, Gen9, Warp Drive) as well as new privacy, biosafety & biosecurity policies. Honors include election to NAS & NAE and Franklin Bower Laureate for Achievement in Science.
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DNA was only discovered about a century ago, and its structure remained a mystery until about half a century ago, but since this time our knowledge and understanding of DNA has grown immensely (indeed exponentially). What's more, this understanding has evolved to include not just an understanding of how DNA works, but also how it can be manipulated to help advance our ends. The most glaring example here is the phenomenon of genetically modified food. Though not without controversy initially (and some fringe opposition that lives on to this day), it is fair to say that genetically modified food was one of the major scientific advances of the 20th century. Over and above this, our understanding of DNA appeared to reach its most impressive manifestation with the successful sequencing of the human genome in the year 2000.
For the genetics professor and pioneering genetic engineer George Church, however, genetically modified food and the Human Genome Project are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential of genomics. Indeed, since the year 2005, the exponential growth rate in our ability to read and write DNA has increased from 1.5-fold per year (a rate that matches Moore's law), to the incredible rate of 10-fold per year (p. 243). This explosion in scientific and technological progress has resulted in dramatic advancements in the areas of biochemicals, biomaterials, biofuels and biomedicine. What's more, advancements in these technologies are but in their incipient stage, and the future of genomics promises to dwarf these initial achievements. In his new book 'Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves' George Church takes us through the developments that have occurred recently in the area of genomics, and also where these developments are likely to take us in the future.
When it comes to the current state of the field, manipulating DNA has already allowed us to produce organisms with new features, such as foodstuffs with novel properties, greater productivity and nutritional value, and resistance to pathogens. Over and above this, micro-species have been programmed to do such things as detect impurities in drinking water, produce electricity from waste-water (and purify the waste-water in the process), produce blood, produce vaccines, take pictures, and even store information. Indeed, the potential to use DNA as a store of information is already recognized to be the likely next leap in computer science, and is poised to initiate a revolution in informatics (just imagine storing all of the information in Wikipedia [in every language] on a chip the size of a blood cell, for a cost of $1 for 100,000 copies [p. 197]).
And, of course, the potential to manipulate genomes does not end with other species: it can also be extended to our own. Actualizing this potential is not far off, and includes such things as increasing intelligence, gaining full immunity to any pathogen (real or hypothetical), and dramatically extending the lifespan (if not removing mortality altogether).
In addition to manipulating genomes for the purpose of creating new biological features, the productive capacity of the genome can also be exploited to produce new substances and materials, such as chemicals, plastics, fuels, drugs, and vaccines. Successes in each of these areas has already been achieved, and the field is on the cusp of scaling-up these processes to an industrial scale. What's more, manipulating genes shows the promise of expanding the current repertoire of the building blocks of substances and materials to produce a whole new array thereof.
Church's book both is both invigorating and inspiring. However, it should be noted that the book is fairly technical throughout, and will only be easily-digested by a reader who already has a fairly deep understanding of the field. Having said that, an educated general reader equipped with a good amount of patience will have no trouble following the argument, and should learn a great deal in the process. A full executive summary of the book is available here: An Executive Summary of George M. Church and Ed Regis's 'Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves'
There is a lot in this book. But I would like to just talk about my favorite part -- the iGEM competition. iGEM is an international student competition for genetic engineering. As Church says [referring to the year 2005], "Undergrads were now doing things, largely in a spirit of fun, that professional molecular biologists would have been hard-pressed to achieve a mere ten years earlier."
In the 2007 competition, the team from UC Berkeley engineered E. coli to produce a blood substitute that could be freeze-dried and stored, and then could be reconstituted and grown up in large volumes when needed. In 2008, the grand prize winner was a Slovenian team from the University of Ljubljana which created a synthetic vaccine for the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers. In 2006, the same Slovenian team had presented an idea for preventing infection of human cells by HIV.
In 2010 the competition had grown from the original four teams (in 2005) to 130 teams from all over the world: Asia (38), Europe (38), the US (37), Canada (10), Latin America (4) and Africa (1). The ideas presented by these student teams were amazing, inspiring, brilliant.
A team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne aimed to stop malaria propagation by acting on the vector, that is, the mosquito itself, by coaxing the bacterium that naturally lives in the mosquito's gut to express an immunotoxin that can prevent the malarial agent from infecting the mosquito, thereby eliminating transmission of the parasite to humans. A team from Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain had a plan to change the climate of Mars (yes, the planet) by building an engineered yeast, resistant to temperature changes and able to produce a dark pigment which will be responsible for a global temperature increase.(They received a gold prize for their efforts).
A team from the University of Washington in Seattle were attempting to synthesize antibiotics, starting with Anthrax for the competition. In my view, this is an idea of staggering proportions given the current crisis in antibiotic resistance. (This same same team went on to win the North American competition the following year for engineering E. coli to produce both diesel fuel and an enzyme to break down gluten in the digestive tract.)
Also receiving a gold prize was a team from the Chinese University of Hong Kong for creating a living data storage system. Apparently, you no longer need to rely exclusively on micro-chips anymore to store an absurd amount of data in a small space.
And the big winner was once again the team from Slovenia for coming up with an "assembly-line" molecule for DNA engineering. I don't pretend to fully understand it, but Church likens it to the moment in the industrial revolution when standardized nuts and bolts, machine-tools and assembly-line production systems were introduced. There was a time when to build a machine you had to build everything basically from scratch, custom made and hand-tooled. But around the turn of the 18th century a wave of standardized machinery became the norm, accelerating the process of invention and industrialization exponentially. Apparently, the judges thought the "assembly-line" molecule was potentially at that level of importance. Church's larger point here is that we are on the cusp of assembly-line genetic engineering. Expect an explosion in innovation.
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True to reputation, Church takes his readers on a journey through existing technologies and possibilities many of us would never dream of. Think carpets manufactured by bacteria, Eco-friendly bioplastics, seed-grown houses, bringing extinct species back to life, induced viral immunity, DNA cryptography, and turning your compost or toilet into a power plant. He presents the living organism as a programmable machine much like a computer - a thrilling and horrifying idea all at once.
Although I am quite familiar with molecular biology, one does not need to be to read Regenesis.To those without a background in biology, the book may be a bit dense, but it is perfectly accessible. For example, in order to explain how one would actually go about inducing immunity to all viruses (reversing an entire organism's stereochemistry), Church explains what stereochemistry is, why it is important, and how (by altering an organism's genetic code) we could bring about a "mirror" organism that viruses would not be able to infect. All of the information one needs to understand how powerful synthetic biology can be (and its limitations) are contained between this book's two covers, even if it is a lot to digest at once.
While the difference between "can" and "aught to" statements in the book are not always clearly outlined, by no means does Church shy away from ethical discussions. While his ultimate conclusions with regards to what we *should* do moving forward are subjective, he does give voice to the other side of the equation albeit briefly.
A worthwhile and important read - this book will almost certainly inspire awe (and perhaps a bit of fear) in you, and no doubt will give you the tools you need to understand a great deal the science that is being discussed in many modern news articles.






