“Every genetic “illness” is a mismatch between an organism’s genome and its environment.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“As I write this, organisms endowed with genomes are learning to change the heritable features of organisms endowed with genomes.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“There is no such thing as perfection, only the relentless, thirsty matching of an organism to its environment. That is the engine… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“The gene provides an organizing principle for modern biology—and it tantalizes us with the prospect of controlling our bodies and fates.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Freaks become norms, and norms become extinct. Monster by monster, evolution advanced” — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“It took the full force of human genetics to bring sanity to the study of madness.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Evolution can craft perfectly adapted organisms, but not in an intentional manner: it is not just a "blind watchmaker", but also a… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“If you prefer an “academic life” as a retreat from reality, do not go into biology. This field is for a man… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“The tightness of genetic linkage, in short, was a surrogate for the physical proximity of genes on chromosomes: by measuring how often… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“That this seemingly simple mechanism—cell growth without barriers—can lie at the heart of this grotesque and multifaceted illness is a testament to… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“The fact that the genome also encodes genes to repair damage to the genome was discovered by several geneticists, including Evelyn Witkin… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Life may be chemistry, but it's a special circumstance of chemistry. Organisms exist not because of reactions that are possible, but because… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Every generation of humans will produce variants and mutants; it is an inextricable part of our biology. A mutation is only “abnormal”… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“A gene," Beadle wrote in 1945, "can be visualized as directing the final configuration of a protein molecule." This was the "action… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“It is encrusted with history. Embedded within it are peculiar fragments of DNA-some derived from ancient viruses-that were inserted into the genome… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Morgan had discovered an important modification to Mendel's laws. Genes did not travel separately; instead, they moved in packs. Packets of information… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“The double-helix has solved all three of the major challenges of genetic physiology using ingenious variations on the same theme. Mirror-image chemicals… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“It is the impulse of science to understand nature, and the impulse of technology to try to manipulate it. Recombinant DNA had… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Every genetic “illness” is a mismatch between an organism’s genome and its environment. In some cases, the appropriate medical intervention to mitigate… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“It is dynamic. In some cells, it reshuffles its own sequence to make novel variants of itself. Cells of the immune system… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“But perhaps an even greater principle was at stake, Bateson realized. The flow of biological information was not restricted to heredity. It… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Aristotle was wrong in his partitioning of male and female contributions into "material" and "message," but abstractly, he had captured one of… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“A note of caution: epigenetics is also on the verge of transforming into a dangerous idea. Epigenetic modifications of genes can potentially… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“Ants have a powerful caste system. A colony typically contains ants that carry out radically different roles and have markedly different body… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“It is conceivable that an interplay of genes and epigenes coordinates human embryogenesis. Let us return, yet again, to Morgan's problem: the… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share Image
“A note of caution: epigenetics is also on the verge of transforming into a dangerous idea. Epigenetic modifications of genes can potentially superpose historical… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
When you immerse yourself in medicine you realise that hope is not absolute. It's not that simple. — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“I had a novice's hunger for history, but also a novice's inability to envision it.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“Any extrapolation of history into the future presupposes an environment of static discovery—an oxymoron.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“Six decades and two years, no more than a passing glance of time, separate Mendel's initial experiments on peas and the court-mandated sterilization of… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“We now know that cells have ancient detectors that recognize viral genes and stamp them with chemical marks, like cancellation signs, to prevent their… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“Familial schizophrenia (like normal human features such as intelligence and temperament) is thus highly heritable but only moderately inheritable. In other words, genes-hereditary determinants-are… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“If you prefer an “academic life” as a retreat from reality, do not go into biology. This field is for a man or woman… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“But the pigs--seventy pounds of porcine weight that did not take kindly to weekly endoscopies--did not sprout any ulcers. And testing the theory on… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“One of the four genes used by Yamanaka to reverse cellular fate is called c-myc. Myc, the rejuvenating factor, is no ordinary gene: it… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
A breast cancer might turn out to have a close resemblance to a gastric cancer. And this kind of reorganization of cancer in terms… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“But in 1960, oncology was not yet ready for this proposal. Not until several years later did it strike the board that had fired… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“Mutants are necessary to maintain the essence of our selves. Our genomes has negotiated a fragile balance between counterpoised forces, pairing strand with opposite… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
“Even an ancient monster needs a name. To name an illness is to describe a certain condition of suffering—a literary act before it becomes… — Siddhartha Mukherjee Copy Share
