Now, for the first time, The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner tells in full the origin story of treating cancer at the genetic level, and unfolds the history behind many of those headlines, to help us understand exactly how targeting cancer at its root came to save so many lives.

In her debut book, science journalist Jessica Wapner brings this story vividly to life. The Philadelphia Chromosome opens in 1959 with the discovery in a University of Pennsylvania lab of a chromosomal mutation (christened the Philadelphia chromosome) in which a piece of chromosome 22 breaks off and attaches itself to chromosome 9.

Wapner has been a contributor to The New York Times, Scientific American, Slate, and many other outlets, she has been writing about cancer research for the past 13 years.