The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them

In The Genome Odyssey, Stanford Professor of Medicine and Genetics, Dr. Euan Ashley, MD, PhD, brings to vivid life the breakthroughs of precision medicine and the potential of genomics to treat, beat, and prevent disease.

Since the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, the price of genome sequencing has dropped at a staggering rate. It’s as if the price of a Ferrari went from $350,000 to a mere $0.40. Through breakthroughs by Dr. Ashley’s team at Stanford, along with other impressive groups around the world, analyzing the human genome has decreased from an almost impossible, multi-billion dollar cost to one test for under $1,000.

For the first time, due to this affordable capability, we have within our grasp the ability to predict our genetic future, to diagnose and prevent disease before it begins, and to decode what it really means to be human.

In The Genome Odyssey, Dr. Ashley details the medicine behind genome sequencing with clarity and accessibility. He shares compelling stories of the brave patients who were the first to undergo this analysis for their own benefit, as well as that of humankind. And then he traces the path from genome data to scientific knowledge to real medical action.

He describes how he led the team that was the first to analyze and interpret a complete human genome, how they broke genome speed records to diagnose and treat a newborn baby girl whose heart stopped five times on the first day of her young life, how they found a boy with tumors growing inside his heart and traced the cause to a missing piece of his genome.

These stories are the waymarkers for a journey through the science behind genome discoveries and genetic diseases. Dr. Ashley envisions a future where genome sequencing is available for all, where medicine can be tailored to treat specific diseases at the DNA level, and where our medical system as we know it has been completely revolutionized.