Summary

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.

Choice Review

Lee (CEO, Lumicell Diagnostics; MIT Koch Institute), a biomedical device design engineer, has written an interesting brief history of the engineering technologies that have enabled biology research/development from the latter half of the 19th century to the present. The book lauds influential technology developers for making some of science's great discoveries possible. It is a fascinating, exciting read, particularly for younger researchers who may have never contemplated the early days of such ubiquitous research technology as ultracentrifugation or gel electrophoresis. Lee writes at the lay audience level, rarely presenting quantitative design principles or other technical details. The inclusion of reproduced vintage figures are a nice touch. The biographical vignettes will help students appreciate the many different career paths in science. The book contains many interviews and quotes, giving some chapters the feel of an "oral history"; these are some of the book's most compelling parts. Lee's conversational writing style makes the transitions to interview sections read smoothly. The book concludes with discussions of future directions in which Lee feels that engineers can make major contributions. Simultaneously, the latter chapters transition to concepts that are more at the cellular and molecular levels, such as cell signaling, which mirror recent trends in biomedical research. --Michael R. King, Cornell University