From X-rays to DNA : how engineering drives biology / David W. Lee, with Jeffrey Drazen, Phillip A. Sharp, and Robert S. Langer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, W. David, 1946- author.

Drazen, Jeffrey M., 1946- author.

Sharp, Phillip A., author.

Langer, Robert S., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biomedical engineering.

Medicine--Research--History.

Medicine.

Medicine--Research.

History.

Medical instruments and apparatus--Technological innovations.

Medical instruments and apparatus.

Surgical instruments and apparatus--Technological innovations.

Surgical instruments and apparatus.

Technological innovations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 233 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2014]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"Engineering has been an essential collaborator in biological research and breakthroughs in biology are often enabled by technological advances. Decoding the double helix structure of DNA, for example, only became possible after significant advances in such technologies as X-ray diffraction and gel electrophoresis. Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis improved as new technologies -- including the stethoscope, the microscope, and the X-ray -- developed. These engineering breakthroughs take place away from the biology lab, and many years may elapse before the technology becomes available to biologists. In this book, David Lee argues for concurrent engineering -- the convergence of engineering and biological research -- as a means to accelerate the pace of biological discovery and its application to diagnosis and treatment. He presents extensive case studies and introduces a metric to measure the time between technological development and biological discovery. Investigating a series of major biological discoveries that range from pasteurization to electron microscopy, Lee finds that it took an average of forty years for the necessary technology to become available for laboratory use. Lee calls for new approaches to research and funding to encourage a tighter, more collaborative coupling of engineering and biology. Only then, he argues, will we see the rapid advances in the life sciences that are critically needed for life-saving diagnosis and treatment."

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9781461952183

1461952182

9780262318389

0262318385

9780262318396

0262318393

1306140668

9781306140669

OCLC:

863157576

Publisher Number:

ebr10803227

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.