Have you ever revisited your medical school days? I bet you have. The banter in the dissection room with the risus of the cadaver mocking your silly jokes, the coffee at the campus cafeteria with elbows set of firmly shut fat pathology textbooks, the revision of the Krebs cycle from a frayed chit of paper right outside the exam hall, your ever-prepared studious friend hammering a mnemonic about pneumonia into your swollen, pulsating brain. Perhaps trying to recall the ECG pattern of altered heart rhythms, as your crush saunters by your desk at the library.
But did you ever revisit a lesson from one of the texts, in a non-academic, nostalgic manner? I did not, till I read this book called The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Think of blood as a cellular civilization. Complete with highways (blood vessels), an army (immune cells), training camps (lymph nodes), and fatty plaques in arteries as highway debris. This book made me revisit my entire curriculum right from the physiology of blood, to the immunology of cancer. In a way I had never seen it before.
The prelude to the book paints a vivid picture of two scientists, one a botanist, another a zoologist, Schleiden and Schwann, who meet over a meal and end up exchanging insights that would lead to the foundation of the cell theory. The author’s finesse is in setting a background in a way, you believe you were present there. And are watching the ‘cell’ being discovered.
Mukherjee emphasizes throughout the book, how we will always come back to the cell. It is the basis of understanding all structure and function. Disease and defense. And recovery as well. The book is divided into six parts, each dealing with the role of the cell in one particular realm.
Part 1, Discovery, speaks about the very first cell, the one that must have come into being at the very beginning of life. Of how the initial microscopic findings regarding the cell met with skepticism and hostility. How several scientists had to sacrifice their careers, sanity and sometimes their lives, for standing up for what they believed in? About graduating from miasma theory to germ theory. And how discovery of the plethora of these ‘germs’ and the subsequent antibiotics led to a complete transformation in the healthcare scenario.
Part 2, The One and the Many, speaks about the organelles and the inner working of the cell, how gene expression impacts everything from the immunity to cancer, about cellular reproduction into an organized mass of cells. An embryo floating within the womb to the latest in IVF. His writing about the controversial genetically modified twins, Lulu and Nana, and the transgression of trust in the field of scientific research is particularly interesting.
Part 3, Blood, is a fascinating journey, where he brings to life, the restless red blood cells, the healing role of platelets, the modern epidemic of lifestyle diseases, the guardian neutrophils, the discerning T cells and the concept of self-tolerance and autoimmune disease. It is here that Mukherjee’s background in immunology as well as his unique perspective, both shine.
Part 4, Knowledge, reflects upon the Covid pandemic, and how the gaps in the existing knowledge about the immune mechanisms led to the staggering course the pandemic took. And how it spurned research in new directions and at unprecedented pace.
Part 5, Organs, speaks of the unique concept of the Citizen cell- where a cell exists in peace and cooperation, within a tissue and an organ. The many minded, contemplative cell, the neuron, and their intricate network that leads to the complex function of cognition. And about the Orchestrating cell- how it maintains homeostasis, and yet adapts to changing conditions.
Part 6, Rebirth, nicely rounds off the saga of the cell, talking about cell renewal, injury, stem cells and transplantation. The author’s experience in bone marrow transplant is a rich source of anecdotes. We learn that a lot more is transplanted than just marrow cells- hopes, dreams, perhaps even strength.
There are times the book felt a little too technical. I did not care for the exact name of a certain chemical receptor. I can only imagine, for someone who does not share my medical background, this may be more so. And yet, I was bowled over with the analogies scattered all over the text. Antibodies as gun slinging sheriffs, T cells as gumshoe detectives, neutrophils as teenage cells- for their rapid response, and above all, the journey of a protein within a cell as an elaborate postal system- complete with the ribosomes for letter writers, the endoplasmic reticulum for the central post office and the Golgi apparatus for a letter sorting station.
There were topics within this book that I, as a reader, was intrigued about. Mukherjee brings to light the backstabbing and rivalry that often accompanies great scientific research. The injustice to the women in STEM. The ancient origins of vaccination in China and India.
The cell, the author says, is like a musician in an orchestra- each playing a part, and complete as a symphony.
Read this book for its fresh perspective. And because we owe it to the single greatest warrior in the universe- The Cell.
