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From X-rays to DNA: How Engineering Drives Biology

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An argument that technology accelerates biological discovery, with case studies ranging from chromosome discovery with early microscopes to how DNA replicates using radioisotope labels.

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.

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Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

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Publisher

Cambridge : The MIT Press., 2013

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9780262318389

Classification

NONE

Content Type

text

Media Type

computer

Carrier Type

online resource

Edition

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Subject(s)

Medicine
Biomedical Engineering
Medical instruments
apparatus;Surgical instruments and apparatus

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

W. David Lee

Other Information

Cataloger

jemadi

Source

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Validator

reva

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8893.001.0001

Journal Volume

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Journal Issue

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Subtitle

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Parallel Title

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