Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2021 An anthropologist visits the frontiers of genetics, medicine, and technology to ask: whose values are guiding gene-editing experiments, and what are the implications for humanity? At a conference in Hong Kong in November 2018, Dr. Jiankui He announced that he had created the first genetically modified babies-twin girls named Lulu and Nana-sending shockwaves around the world. A year later, a Chinese court sentenced Dr. He to three years in prison for "illegal medical practice." As scientists elsewhere start to catch up with China's vast genetic research programme, gene editing is fuelling an innovation economy that threatens to widen racial and economic inequality. Fundamental questions about science, health, and social justice are at stake. Who gets access to gene-editing technologies? As countries loosen regulations around the globe, can we shape research agendas to promote an ethical and fair society? Professor Eben Kirksey takes us on a groundbreaking journey to meet the key scientists, lobbyists, and entrepreneurs who are bringing cutting-edge genetic modification tools like CRISPR to your local clinic. He also ventures beyond the scientific echo chamber, talking to doctors, hackers, chronically ill patients, disabled scholars, and activists and who have alternative visions of a genetically modified future for humanity. The Mutant Project empowers us to ask the right questions, uncover the truth, and navigate this new era of scientific enquiry.

About the Author
Eben Kirksey is an American anthropologist and Associate Professor at Alfred Deakin Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He is sought out as an expert on science in society by many media outlets and speaks widely at the world's leading academic institutions, music festivals, art exhibits, and community events. This book was completed when he was a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.


Book Information
ISBN 9781529217292
Author Eben Kirksey
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Bristol University Press
Publisher Bristol University Press