Decoding the Language of Genetics

In this book, the distinguished geneticist David Botstein offers help and advice to scientists and physicians daunted by the arcane technical terms that flourish in his discipline. As knowledge of gene function has progressed over the past century, it has acquired a vocabulary of specialized, sometimes confusing, terms to explain some of its fundamental principles; how traits and diseases are inherited; how genes are organized and regulated in the genome; and how the genetic code is read and translated by cells. These terms often prevent the less expert from fully understanding the concepts that underlie the power of genetic studies. This is not just a theoretical handicap. As more and more individuals learn about their genomes, the information these sequences contain cannot be understood or explained without reference to the basic ideas of genetics. Botstein draws on his long experience as a teacher and pioneering scientist to explain and illuminate what many genetic terms mean and how they entered common usage. To colleagues in the field, his message is one of encouragement, to "make our work more generally accessible by modernizing, clarifying, and simplifying the language we use and teach."

David Botstein is an American biologist serving as the Chief Scentific Officer of Calico. He served as the director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University from 2003-2013, where he remains an Anthony B. Evnin Professor of Genomics.