#66 – Darren discusses Code Breaker (Jennifer Doudna, CRISPR)–What Walter Isaacson gets right/wrong on scientific research

Molecular Podcasting with Darren Lipomi

This is a bit of an unusual book review for the book The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race. I'm going to focus on Walter Isaacson's portrayal of how scientific research happens in academic settings and provide some context for the comments he makes on scientists, the scientific method, the role of competition, fundamental science vs. technology, and the philosophy of science.

My brief bio: I did my PhD at Harvard in chemistry and postdoc in chemical engineering at Stanford. I have been in the same room with many of the individuals written about in this book, though none of them know who I am (unless they subscribe to this channel ;). I am now a professor of nanoengineering and chemical engineering, and Associate Dean for Students, in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.