Description
Book SynopsisEight percent of our DNA contains retroviruses that are millions of years old. Anna Marie Skalka explains how our evolving knowledge of these particles has advanced genetic engineering, gene delivery systems, and precision medicine. Retroviruses cause disease but also hold clues to prevention and treatment possibilities that are anything but retro.
Trade ReviewA gem. Anna Marie Skalka has produced a short but exciting story that covers 20th century biology from the vantage point of an insider and the perspective of retroviruses and related genetic elements…I recommend this book to students and those of us who remain excited by biology and medicine. -- Robert C. Gallo * FASEB Journal *
Discovering Retroviruses takes the reader on a remarkable historical voyage from the earliest appearance of life on earth to the present day. Students will not find a better way to learn the basic history of molecular biology and retrovirology. Experts will find Skalka’s unraveling of how and why retroviruses are ‘beacons in the biosphere’ to be fresh, compelling, insightful, and thought-provoking. This book showcases Skalka’s passion and excitement for science. -- Lynn W. Enquist, Princeton University
This fascinating book aptly anchors retroviruses in groundbreaking discoveries that mark the ascent of biology over the past hundred years.
Discovering Retroviruses is elegantly written, with the clarity and insight only a leading scientist in the field can offer. -- Peter Vogt, The Scripps Research Institute
Discovering Retroviruses takes us on an extraordinary journey from the beginnings of life to the transmission of disease. Skalka shows how retroviruses impacted the evolution of species, including our own, and introduces us to the remarkable people who made these discoveries. This is a compelling book. -- Bruce Stillman, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
At its heart, this volume is a love letter to basic research, illustrating how scientists’ insight and the scientific record have synergized, time and again, to drive biomedical advances…Illuminating. -- Alice Telesnitsky * Quarterly Review of Biology *
Intensely thought-provoking and satisfying…Immensely valuable. -- Tyler Hampton * Inference *
