Genomics and Personalized Medicine: What Everyone Needs to Know®

by Michael Snyder

In 2001 the Human Genome Project succeeded in mapping the DNA of humans. This landmark accomplishment launched the field of genomics, the integrated study of all the genes in the human body and the related biomedical interventions that can be tailored to benefit a person's health. Today genomics, part of a larger movement toward personalized medicine, is poised to revolutionize health care. By cross-referencing an individual's genetic sequence -- their genome -- against known elements of "Big Data," elements of genomics are already being incorporated on a widespread basis, including prenatal disease screening and targeted cancer treatments. With more innovations soon to arrive at the bedside, the promise of the genomics revolution is limitless. This entry in the What Everyone Needs to Know series offers an authoritative resource on the prospects and realities of genomics and personalized medicine. As this science continues to alter traditional medical paradigms, consumers are faced with additional options and more complicated decisions regarding their health care. This book provides the essential information everyone needs.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Medicine, Genetics

180 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 9, 2016

Reviews

[Betsy]

I attended a community lecture, at the local library, on big data and the practice of medicine. The speaker was Michael Snyder, a Stanford researcher and the author of this book. I found what he had to say - about the use of Fitbits, iPhones and other technology to gather medical information - fascinating! This is his book, written for the lay person, that discusses the use of genetic sequencing and other data from these devices in the practice of medicine. Since I am not a natural scientist, I had to re-read some sentences several times to make sense of them. Even so, I got a lot out of learning about the use and potential of gene sequencing to personalize medicine. It sounds as if gene sequencing is now used quite frequently for patients who have cancer, and it has been used to identify the BRCA mutation predictive of breast cancer, and a few other mutations that have clear relationships to other diseases. It sounds as if, eventually, this process will get us a lot closer to treating diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinsons, and has already begun influencing cancer treatments. Exciting! This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in what's on the horizon in medical care.

[Emil O. W. Kirkegaard]

Easy to read introduction to genomics for health care related areas. Does not cover genomics for other areas like population genetics or its interaction, such as admixture mapping or ancestry related diseases. This is a bit of a shame.

The book nice very nice illustrations of concepts.

Of particular annoyance to me was that there was no references for the claims made. Not even in the book of the book, like for other popular science books.

The latter parts of the book dealing with ethics were not good, but mediocre.

But well worth reading in its entirety.

[Hannah Clubb]

I am a Genetics student and we read this book for one of my classes. I found it to be quite an interesting book. I learned a lot from it. I'd love to reread it sometime.

[John Murphy]

Informative but felt disorganized

There was a lot of information packed into this book, but it read like a stream of consciousness exercise at times. I don't have a background in genomics so my lack of knowledge in this arena may be partly to blame. There seemed to be a lot of opinion without attribution, which reduced the credibility of the work. The book was worth the price but I didn't think it was worthy of more than 3 stars.

[D]

Very good intro to and overview of the basics of personalized medicine. Lots of breadth little depth, but good roadmap for the future of medicine.

[Bridget]

Great overview covering many different subtopics and what to expect in the future. Easy to understand for a general audience.

[Richard]

Very basic overview. The chapter on microbiome could have been a blog post. You'll learn little new from any of the chapters unless you've never heard of it before. Well, I guess that's the point of the book.