{"product_id":"curved-air-a-biography-of-sickle-cell-anemia-and-the-quest-to-cure-the-first-molecular-disease-9780674293960","title":"Curved Air: A Biography of Sickle Cell Anemia and the Quest to Cure the First Molecular Disease","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow sickle cell anemia led the quest to edit the human genome while patients endured decades of racial discrimination and medical neglect.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn December 1904, Walter Clement Noel, a dental student from Grenada, was admitted to a Chicago hospital with fever, jaundiced eyes, and leg ulcers. When doctors examined his blood under a microscope, they were puzzled by his sickle-shaped cells. His case became enshrined in the annals of medicine as the first report of sickle cell anemia, a life-threatening disease that starves the body's organs of oxygen, causing excruciating pain. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eCurved Air, \u003c\/i\u003e Kevin Davies chronicles the story of sickle cell anemia from its ancient origins in Sub-Saharan Africa to its surprising role in the success of human genome editing, revealing how one of the world's most famous genetic diseases was also among its most neglected. Scientists discovered the molecular anomaly responsible for the disease over 75 years ago. Yet for decades, patients, many of them Black, suffered in silence, denied urgent care by a healthcare system quick to dismiss them as drug seekers. It was only in 2023, after researchers in the US and Europe partnered with biotech companies, that hope arrived in the approval of a revolutionary gene editing therapy: CRISPR. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGiving voice to the sickle cell pioneers, including Victoria Gray, who bravely became the first volunteer to have her blood cells engineered, \u003ci\u003eCurved Air\u003c\/i\u003e is at once a story of failure and breakthroughs, heartbreak and hope. It is also a celebration of the scientists, physicians, and, above all, the patients who are finally catching a glimpse of the cure they have waited generations to see.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Belknap Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674293960\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/22\/2026\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Kevin Davies","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52801257865397,"sku":"9780674293960","price":25.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/curved-air-a-biography-of-sickle-cell-anemia-and-the-quest-to-cure-the-first-molecular-disease-9780674293960","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}