Medical Genetics

When Joselin Linder was in her 20s, her legs started to swell. She thought little of it until her health problems started to compound in ways that baffled her doctors. Diagnosed with extreme liver blockage and dangerous levels of lymph fluid, Joselin turned to the most similar case she could think of - her father's.

In Mercies in Disguise, acclaimed New York Times reporter and best-selling author Gina Kolata tells the story of the Baxleys, an upstanding family in small-town South Carolina. Many of them were doctors, but still, they are struck down by an inscrutable illness. Finally they discover the cause of the disease after a remarkable sequence of providential events. Meanwhile science, progressing for 50 years along a parallel track, handed the Baxleys a question - not a cure but a blood test that would reveal who had the gene for the disease.

Already technology enables parents to select some genetic traits for their children, and soon it will be possible to begin to shape ourselves as a species. Countering loud cries of alarm, bioethics expert Ronald Green explains why our fears about genetic engineering are overblown and how we can move forward responsibly to create a better future.

Grace Lord, combat surgeon in training, has just landed her dream job aboard a medical space station. Attacked by a powerful, gorilla-enhanced combat soldier the moment she steps onto the station, she quickly realizes this assignment will be far from typical. She treats the wounded space marines of the Conglomerate under the watchful eyes of stalking androids who all look alike and a mentor with a serious case of megalomania. Meeting a drop-dead gorgeous psychiatrist almost makes it worth it, until the station docks with a mysterious vessel.

World-renowned virologist Dr. Cricket Rensselaer-Wright abruptly abandoned her research in Africa after watching her colleague die tragically from the Ebola virus. When she returns to the States to reunite with her teenage daughter Emmy, her plans are sidetracked.

In 2025 America, it's hardly news when a renowned octogenarian scientist dying of cancer disappears from a local hospice, but when Kansas City Star reporter Rich Azadian begins to dig, he discovers that other elderly scientists around the world have also vanished recently - all terminally ill and receiving the same experimental treatment from a global health company.

Since the dawn of civilization, it's been mankind's greatest dream: immortality and eternal youth. Dramatic advances in medical science have finally made it possible. But in order to preserve everyone's youthful state, they must undergo an irreversible operation before passing into adulthood. A special hormone patch maintains each person's body in the form of a preadolescent 11-year-old.

With trusted expertise from Mayo Clinic, the Edge of Medicine series sets out to inspire and educate the next generation of young scientists by highlighting the medical breakthroughs of a diverse range of scientists and researchers. From the discovery of the double helix to mapping the human genome, this exploration of scientific inquiry celebrates the greatest developments to date in genetics. Get to know the physicians, scientists, and other researchers responsible for these breakthroughs in medicine, and explore the ups, the downs, and the eureka moments that are science in action.

A promise is a promise, even if it's deadly. How far would you go to save a loved one? Tycoon Maxwell Sutherland knows how far he would, and he's hell-bent on letting nothing stop him. Medical advancements were too slow for him to save his wife, but he will stop at nothing to see that his daughter does not suffer the same fate. His daughter's inherited illness moves rapidly to snuff her life out, but Maxwell Sutherland has an unimaginable plan.

When Alan learns that Michelle is working with a small group to go against the big pharmaceutical company because of a specific drug, Alan is intrigued. For this reason, Alan takes a job offer from Michelle's boss. Not only does he get paid well, he also gets to work with Michelle and help save the world from a dangerous drug. The more Alan uncovers, though, the more questions he has about what's going on and how much time he has.

The baby growing inside him has two fathers, and it's killing him. Genetic engineering made it possible for Adam Khan to bear and birth his biological child, but it never prepared him to carry the weight of the world. The product of a religious family, Adam hid his true self. Unfortunately, the object of his affection cares only for himself. Desperate to be loved, he turns to the morally bankrupt Chimera Collaborative, run by the sinister Dr. Shen Duan. Will the pursuit of acceptance and an idyllic life be a matter of life and death?