Genetic Engineering: A Primer presents the growing field of biotechnology to non-science majors and other general interest readers. The author examines the natural forces that change genetic information and the ways in which scientists have learned to engineer these genetic changes. With a wealth of information flooding the popular press, including

Walter E. Hill earned his PhD in biophysics from the University of Wisconsin. He is currently an active undergraduate/graduate instructor at the University of Montana, in Missoula. He has received several awards pertaining to his study of ribosomes, including the NIH Career Development Award, the Distinguished Scholar Award, the Burlington Northern Distinguished Researcher Award, and the Montana Academy of Sciences Mershon Award. Hill has published more than fifty scholarly articles in scientific journals, written nine book chapters, and edited two books on ribosomes. He has a knack for making unfamiliar scientific nomenclature less intimidating to the non-science general reader.

Building Blocks of Living Things. Matter and Living Things. Proteins. Nucleic Acid. How Living Things are Changed. Making and Altering Proteins. Altering Genetic Material in Bacteria. Genetically Engineering Bacteria. Viruses. Making Genetic Changes in Plants and Animals. Placing New Genes in Mammalian Cells. Genetic Engineering of Plants. Embryo Transfers and Cloning of Animals. How Genetic Engineering Helps Us. Gene Therapy and Disease. Other Applications for Gene Therapy. Biotechnology, Safety, and the Future. Glossary. Appendix.