His week begins with blood. Every Monday, Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee arrives early at his Columbia University lab to stare through the microscope at slides of red. Waiting very much in Shakespearean fashion for his patient's blood to speak to him.
We speak on a Thursday. Mukherjee is in his loft in New York, making a sandwich and promoting his new book The Song of The Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and The New Human. It is his fourth book, the earlier ones being The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (which won him a Pulitzer), The Laws of Medicine: Field Notes from an Uncertain Science and The Gene: An Intimate History. Its arrival in stores is very much a worldwide publishing event.
The next two months are big for Mukherjee, for his various identities of oncologist, scientist, writer, and now entrepreneur. Book aside, in December, he flies to Bengaluru to assess the results of a CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cell trial for cancer. His laboratory, which has a reputation for cancer research, is responsible for starting one of India's first clinical trials of T-cell therapy.
AT cell is a kind of white blood cell. "A CAR T cell is a T cell that has been weaponised against cancer," he says. "It is a process that can be highly effective in curing patients, but it is also very dangerous."
Immuneel Therapeutics, the Bengaluru-based company that Mukherjee and Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw started, is working towards a treatment that will cost far less than treatments in the US. It has recently raised $15 million. IIT Bombay and Tata Memorial are also doing similar trials; theirs is in phase one, and Immuneel is in phase two.
Denne historien er fra November 06, 2022-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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Denne historien er fra November 06, 2022-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A golden girl
One of India's most formidable beauties passed away earlier this month. The odd thing is she would absolutely hate this obituary; she hated being written about and avoided publicity for all of her nine decades. Indira Aswani was 93 when she died. But anyone who encountered her, even briefly, was in such awe of her grace and poise, and one could not but remember her forever.
The interest in wine is growing delightfully in India
The renowned British wine writer and television presenter Jancis Robinson, 74, recently came to Delhi and Mumbai to reacquaint herself with India's wine industry. This was the Robinson's fourth visit to India; the last one was seven years ago. On this trip, Robinson and her husband, restaurateur Nicholas Lander, were hosted by the Taj Hotels and Sonal Holland, India's only Master of Wine.
United in the states
Indian-Americans coming together under the Democratic umbrella could get Harris over the line in key battlegrounds
COVER DRIVE
Usage-driven motor insurance policies offer several benefits
GDP as the only measure of progress is illogical
Dasho Karma Ura, one of the world's leading happiness experts, has guided Bhutan's unique gross national happiness (GNH) project. He uses empirical data to show that money cannot buy happiness in all circumstances, rather it is family and health that have the strongest positive effect on happiness. Excerpts from an interview:
India is not a controlling big brother
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay considers India a benevolent elder sibling as the \"big brotherly attitude\" is happily missing from bilateral ties. He thinks the relationship shared by the two countries has become a model of friendship not just for the region, but for the entire world. \"India's attitude is definitely not of a big brother who is controlling and does not allow the little brother to blossom and grow,\" says Tobgay in an exclusive interview with THE WEEK.
Comrade with no foes
Lal Salaam, Comrade Yechury-you were quite a guy!
Pinning down saffron
In her first political bout, Vinesh Phogat rides on the anti-BJP sentiment across Haryana
MAKE IN MANIPUR
Home-made rockets and weapons from across the border are escalating the conflict
SAHEB LOSES STEAM
Coalition dynamics and poor electoral prospects continue to diminish Ajit Pawar's political stock