A panoramic history of the cell

Pulitzer Prize winner Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Song of The Cell is a beautifully crafted exposition of the author's own lifelong fascination with the subject

The Song of The Cell: An Exploration Of Medicine And The New Human

Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 576

Price: Rs 799

The cell is one of the key building blocks of life, and our understanding of medicine, chemistry and the biosciences in general revolves around our understanding of cells, and the ways in which we’ve learnt to manipulate them using techniques such as DNA-sequencing and gene editing. The Song of the Cell is a panoramic ride through the history of the cell or, rather, through the history of our scientific interactions with the cell.

Siddhartha Mukherjee is uniquely qualified to write about this subject. He’s spent most of his working life researching some aspect or another of the cell, or applying some therapy that affects cells. He trained as an immunologist, and then worked  with stem cells and researched cancer biology before moving to medical oncology.

He has easy personal access to a host of doctors, scientists and researchers. He can interweave intimate stories drawing upon his experiences. The book is dedicated to two patients, for example. In addition, he’s a stylish writer who explains complicated concepts with the same facility that won him the Pulitzer for his earlier magisterial exploration of cancer.  

One of Dr Mukherjee’s motivations was his desire to see the rise of a “new human”. He defines this carefully in terms of what he means and does not mean. He doesn’t mean an AI-augmented superhuman, or transhuman; he means a human rebuilt anew with modified cells. A woman with crippling depression whose neurons are stimulated; a patient who recovers from sickle cell disease due to a bone marrow transplant; a diabetic whose stem cells are re-engineered to produce insulin; a heart patient whose liver has been treated to permanently lower cholesterol levels.

The book has been divided into six main sections each devoted to different themes in the scientific exploration of the cell. While it isn’t comprehensive, it touches lightly, or in depth, on most of the ways in which scientists and doctors and philosophers have looked at organic life and tried to break it down into its basic components. This is leavened with the anecdotes that are trademark Mukherjee. Being organised in terms of themes rather than chronologically gives the book the latitude to move back and forth in time, between the 17th century and the current era, and to places in-between, from the first groping examinations of cells to the current state of the art.

The term “cell” was itself coined in the 17th century by Robert Hooke (whose law of elasticity has plagued or enlightened generations). Hooke was a scientific polymath who looked at anything he found entertaining. His near-contemporary Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek crafted his own microscopes and recorded the things he saw in drops of water (he called these “animalcules”). From there, the narrative moves to the 19th century pioneers such as Francois Vincent Raspail, Rudolf Virchow, Robert Remak and others who made inspired guesses about the ways cell work.

The late 19th century saw the rivalry between two geniuses lead to a sequence of huge advances in understanding. The Frenchman Louis Pasteur and the German, Robert Koch hated each other because they were both good patriots. Both made massive breakthroughs.

There’s a nice description of the conception and birth of Louise May Brown, in 1977 — she was the first “test-tube” baby. There’s also a description of He Jiankui’s experimental tampering with the genes of two Chinese in-vitro fertilisations to create babies in 2018. He hoped the babies, “Lulu” and “Nana” would be free of HIV (the father was HIV-positive). But scientists are dubious about the quality of the gene-editing work.

This sort of tampering is morally ambiguous, and riddled with ethical dilemmas. It could be a force for the good obviously, if it can eradicate conditions like diabetes or sickle cell anaemia. It could also be entirely evil if it is harnessed to the cause of perpetuating racist tropes in future generations. The subject of cell-editing also inevitably leads into explanations of gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR and where that could lead.  

Cancer — Dr Mukherjee’s own area of expertise — develops when cells somehow mutate and bypass the normal checks and balances and multiply at insane rates and effectively become immortal. The book cites key medical cases from the writer’s personal experience when he talks about cancer and the multiple ways in which researchers have sought cures.

This is an instructive book. It errs on the side of simplicity as it covers a vast amount of ground and the author is consciously targeting a lay audience.  But the combination of the personal and the intimate is well judged.

There’s a cool, precise exposition of the science (even if it’s dumbed down), with explanatory diagrams thrown in and very extensive footnotes and bibliography. Explore those footnotes for more detail — it is a rewarding exercise. This tour de force is beautifully written and the author’s own lifelong fascination with the subject shines through.