Medical Biotechnology
1058-4838
Abstract
Both the diagnosis and treatment of human disease have undergone radical changes since the seminal discoveries of molecular biology, magnetic resonance imaging, mass spectrometry, and vaccine development, to name but a few. Glick and colleagues have taken on the ambitious task of creating a textbook for allied health professional students covering these topics. The authors are quick to point out that this “not a medical textbook per se” but rather an attempt to create a “biomedical roadmap.” The authors assemble this “roadmap” by cleverly dividing it into 3 sections: “The Biology Behind the Technology” (chapters 1–5), “Production of Therapeutic Agents” (chapters 6–7), and “Diagnosing and Treating Human Disease” (chapters 8–12). The most striking feature of this work is the elegant, informative, and complementary use of figures, images, tables, and “boxes” that often feature landmark scientific discoveries and directly cite the original publication. This enables the eager student to seek out and explore in depth the original findings. At the end of each chapter, a set of review questions tests the reader's comprehension. The breadth of coverage is impressive, despite the narrower definition offered that “medical biotechnology is the application of molecular technologies to diagnose and treat human diseases” at the end of chapter 1.