by Robin Cook
“Good Lord! It very well might,” Laurie said. “A diagnostic test and a therapy! And so quickly. That’s terrific! That will totally solve the outbreak problem. I’ve heard people extol the promise of CRISPR/CAS9, but this sounds extraordinary.”
“As a gene-editing tool, there is no doubt that CRISPR/CAS9 is loaded with promise,” Jack said. “Yet peril exists as well. In this instance it’s rather fitting that CRISPR/CAS9 will be solving this outbreak, because it also caused it.”
“You’re talking in circles,” Laurie said. “How on earth did CRISPR/CAS9 cause a fatal mini-pandemic of a heretofore innocuous retrovirus?”
“To answer your question, I need to tell you exactly what happened to me today, and, at the same time, I’ll be able to explain why you, as the chief medical examiner, are going to be calling the Office of Criminal Investigations at the FDA in the morning. But first I have a confession I need to make.”
“What kind of confession?”
“I’m afraid I have been selfish of late. Emma’s tentative diagnosis really threw me into an egocentric tailspin. I understand that now. While trying to cope, I haven’t been supportive of you and the stresses that you’ve been under, between being the new chief and your own struggles with Emma’s situation. I’m truly sorry, and I’ll try to be more understanding and helpful. I’m amazed you have the patience to deal with the politics while running the whole OCME. I’m really proud that you have been able to do it. I know I couldn’t. No way.”
Laurie blinked away a few threatening tears and took a deep breath. In her mind, Jack knew, she’d been an overly emotional type since her preteen years. “Thank you,” she managed to say as she struggled to get herself under control in response to Jack’s mini-confession. She had always considered her emotional lability as a handicap, especially as a professional. “It has been stressful for me for sure on all fronts, but I’m committed to do the best I can. Your support is enormously important to me.”
“Well, I promise you will have it a hundred percent.”
“I’ve been thinking, too,” Laurie said. “And despite everything that happened today and maybe because of it, I found the nerve to tell my parents when I got home tonight that I thought it would be best if they returned to their apartment tomorrow. To my absolute surprise they took it in stride.”
With some effort, Jack refrained from cheering aloud. Instead he said, “Thank you. I know that took guts, but it will be best for everyone. And thank you for putting up with me. I’m lucky to have found you. We might have our disagreements, but when push comes to shove, we really are soul mates.” And while in his head he was doing cartwheels of joy, Laurie was none the wiser as he pulled her into his arms.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge Dr. William Hurlbut, an adjunct professor of neurobiology at the Stanford Medical School in Stanford, California. Dr. Hurlbut was key in getting me invited to a conference at the University of California, Berkeley, to discuss the social dimensions of CRISPR. Participation in the conference opened my eyes to the promise of the gene-editing technology and to its perils, and was the origin of Pandemic.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Doudna, Jennifer A., and Samuel H. Sternberg. A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. In contrast to most books dealing with CRISPR/CAS9, this one is written for the general audience and is narrative in style and therefore highly understandable to those readers not conversant in the details of modern molecular genetics. It also deals equally with the promise and the perils of this new, powerful technology. I highly recommend reading the book, as CRISPR will undoubtedly affect all of us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Robin Cook is the author of more than thirty previous books and is credited with popularizing the medical thriller with his wildly successful novel Coma. He divides his time between Boston and Florida. His most recent bestsellers include Charlatans, Host, Cell, and Death Benefit.
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* “A Programmable Dual-RNA-Guided DNA Endonuclease in Adaptive Bacterial Immunity” by Martin Jinek, Krzysztof Chylinski, Ines Fondara, Michael Hauer, Jennifer Doudna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, Science, vol. 337, pages 816–21.