KRISPR
Enduring friendships. Daunting decisions. Secrets. Love. Loss. Poetic Justice.
What she knew for sure-
Her technology was truly revolutionary. It had extraordinary promise for curing human disease, maybe even Alzheimer's. It also had the potential for abuse-unrestrainable, diabolical abuse. It could never get into the hands of her more powerful adversaries. It should be destroyed.
But doing what's right isn't always easy…especially when it comes to the ones you love.
Aliya McKenna has it all…beauty, brains, grit. Her family is close-knit. Her best friends are lively and loyal. And she has met her soulmate. When a world-renowned scientist asks her to collaborate, she jumps at the chance. It was all quite wonderful-until it wasn't. Faced with precarious choices, her gambles become perilous when she does the wrong things for the right reasons and learns a valuable lesson along the way: just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
KRISPR is set against the backdrop of the unintended consequences of one of humanity's greatest innovations, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. It is as suspenseful as it is heart-warming and features the coming of age of an intelligent, relatable young woman who out-smarts her opponents, with the added bonus of introducing cutting edge science in an understandable manner.
Jennifer Handler is a college professor. She conducts research, teaches and is a mentor to students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She holds a BS in Molecular Genetics, a PhD in Genetics and has completed fellowships in the field of Neurosciences. Jennifer inherited a passion for reading from her mother, who always had an Agatha Christie detective novel on her nightstand. Living alone in Maine while in graduate school, she spent her nights engrossed in any and every thriller she could get her hands on. Currently one of her favorite pastimes is to meet with her neighborhood book club, where she is constantly being introduced to new worlds. She has published in scientific journals, as well as written a customized text for a course she teaches, but this is her first foray into writing fiction.
Much of the story of KRISPR is her story. Handler was born and raised in Cleveland but spent time as a young researcher at the prestigious Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, living apart from her new husband. Raising her family in the Midwest, she accompanied her teen-aged daughter to New York City where she participated in an international modeling competition, and later moved her into her dorm at a university in Midtown Manhattan. As a professor, Handler has a real sense of what its like to be a college student in the 21st century. She also has the training and expertise to understand and make relatable technologies in genetics and neuroscience. And she has personally experienced the heart-wrenching and devastating effects of Alzheimer's Disease as she witnessed her dad suffer from it for several years prior to his passing.
Jennifer Handler is the author's pen name, as her real name is a bit hard to pronounce.
