The Cell Builders

In this account of the rapid growth of biotechnology, DeYoung focuses in considerable detail on the immunological techniques employed to produce large quantities of antibodies designed to attack a specific antigen like cancer. He profiles those who have spawned a new industrythe biologists responsible for discovering these techniques, such as Nobel Prize-winners Cesar Milstein and George Kohler, and the entrepreneurs committed to exploiting those discoveries. In this connection, DeYoung speculates as to whether market values will prevail over medical and human needs. Interwoven with the discussion of these scientific and business developments is the story told in novelistic style of a young physician who, upon discovering that he has lymphoma, undertakes research into the nature of his cancer and seeks out the help of immunologists in the management and treatment of his disease. (July 18)