Scientific MOOCs follower. Author of Airpocalypse, a techno-medical thriller (Out Summer 2017)


Welcome to the digital era of biology (and to this modest blog I started in early 2005).

To cure many diseases, like cancer or cystic fibrosis, we will need to target genes (mutations, for ex.), not organs! I am convinced that the future of replacement medicine (organ transplant) is genomics (the science of the human genome). In 10 years we will be replacing (modifying) genes; not organs!

Anticipating the $100 genome era and the P4™ medicine revolution. P4 Medicine (Predictive, Personalized, Preventive, & Participatory): Catalyzing a Revolution from Reactive to Proactive Medicine.

I am an early adopter of scientific MOOCs. I've earned myself four MIT digital diplomas: 7.00x, 7.28x1, 7.28.x2 and 7QBWx. Instructor of 7.00x: Eric Lander PhD.

Upcoming books: Airpocalypse, a medical thriller (action taking place in Beijing) 2017; Jesus CRISPR Superstar, a sci-fi -- French title: La Passion du CRISPR (2018).

I love Genomics. Would you rather donate your data, or... your vital organs? Imagine all the people sharing their data...

Audio files on this blog are Windows files ; if you have a Mac, you might want to use VLC (http://www.videolan.org) to read them.

Concernant les fichiers son ou audio (audio files) sur ce blog : ce sont des fichiers Windows ; pour les lire sur Mac, il faut les ouvrir avec VLC (http://www.videolan.org).

Affichage des articles dont le libellé est airpocalypse;. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est airpocalypse;. Afficher tous les articles

Airpocalypse, thriller techno-médical, à paraître cet été

Découvrez Airpocalypse, thriller techno-médical, à paraître cet été (version française). Editeur: Hachette/Iggy Book, support Kindle.
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Airpocalypse, a techno-medical thriller

From Red Khmers to Green Khmers? Will ecological utopia take over the communist utopia in China? Airpocalypse, my techno-medical thriller, will be out this summer (French version)

After physician assistant Mia's change of heart in Paris (her boss is harvesting hearts from Chinese prisoners), she will be the heart of change in Beijing, where scientists are reengineering the genome of humans to treat diseases, and algae's DNA to treat pollution.  Algae biofuels could be the low-emission fuel of the future. CRISPR, that cool genome editing tool, can also re-write geopolitics. Biology and I.T. have merged, but what will save Mia’s life in Xinjiang, a Muslim Chinese province? Yin, or Yang, or their reunion? Cutting or restriction enzymes in a democrature (mix of democracy and dictatorship) like China are not only cutting through DNA molecules. Lenoir, Mia’s ex-boss, is also in Beijing. After his bloody harvest in China, he will need to use CRISPR as a minimally invasive surgical tool to save the life of his ex-assistant. Maybe the perfect Yin Yang is when the irony of death is meeting with the irony of life?

Follow me on twitter: @cathcoste

https://twitter.com/cathcoste
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An open letter to my Regina Holliday jacket

A few years ago, Regina Holliday, yes the famous US health care activist, painted this jacket for me. Dying Steve Jobs: "IT and biology have merged. Time to learn about it." I was a middle and high school German teacher, and an executive assistant in "big corporate". Trying to learn the lesson, i earned myself 4 biology MIT MOOC certificates (working on a fifth one)
Dear jacket,

Who would go attending health care congresses, boasting around, wearing you, saying something like "I represent dying Steve Jobs and I learned biology at MIT" (and i'm full of shit)? Thanks, but no thanks. Miss me with the bloody hype. Those MITx MOOC courses on EdX are providing a great hype filter, by the way, you were right, dear jacket.
The reason i met with this famous transplant patient, a cancer patient, had nothing to do with mHealth hype. It had to do with intelligence regarding brain death science and organ trafficking in China. It encompassed geopolitical stuff, surgical stuff, and human rights. We are talking about China, aren't we, dear jacket? Not wanting to be manipulated, i (wearing you) went to see my former professor of Geopolitics, Jean-Christophe Victor. Discussed with him what i had told the patient who is painted on your back, dear jacket, seeking advice. Wanting to stay under the radar, i thought studying biology and genomics with you and earning ourselves MITx MOOC certificates would compensate for Regina's painting efforts and generosity. And you too, dear jacket, thought this was a great idea. Oh, we got on so well together, didn't we? We had so much fun learning about digitised biology. It wasn't always easy, though. There were days i wasn't quite sure if you were a congress uniform (business smart dress code) or a zip-up sweatshirt.
Turns out me and my jacket, we didn't get "touched" by airpocalypse in Beijing a couple of years ago; i'm afraid it's the opposite. Both of us could "touch" that thick, polluted air with our fingers instead, when travelling to Beijing (that human rights activist thing, remember?). 
The whole thing must have been brewing inside me, a modest blogger and MOOC student, for some time, though, I guess. Flashback of people being slaughtered for their organs (yes, i had witnessed such things in China, having worked for surgeons), air pollution killing people, the arrogance of power (some establishment doctors: transplant surgeons, and other VIPs) showing too little concern about human rights in China (great source of transplantable organs, worldwide)... Both of us, as you know only too well, dear jacket, started writing (we had just completed MITx MOOC 7.28.x part 2 and we were exhausted, but never mind that) and refused to move from that Beijing airport (leaving China) without first talking to Beijing authorities. It was in winter 2015, do you remember? Neither of us was fluent in Mandarin Chinese, far from that, but after three or four days spent at Beijing airport (which we now know like the back of our hands: showers, restrooms, water dispensers for Instant Noodles, etc), we finally managed to speak to someone. In a mix of broken Mandarin Chinese and English, we both did our best to explain we were MITx students and had things to tell regarding geopolitics in China. All you remember from this period is me as a nervous wreck, refusing to admit i would be blocked from going to China because i had worked with Canadian human right activists who had accused the government of crime against humanity (human organ trafficking with the complicity of Chinese army). At this point i must thank you for your help. You successfully conveyed the message to Beijing authorities that we were both scientists (MITx students) willing to help Chinese people get excited about science, synthetic biology, CRISPR, genomic precision medicine and the potential of this new science to battle air pollution and cancer. I (fashion-) showed you to Chinese politicians, and little by little the craziness of the situation settled down. Police told us they wanted to hear what we had to say because they thought we both were very sick (true, duh, that pollution thing). The incident was "settled" (no money involved, only good will from all parties), and somehow (i will never pretend i understand what is going on in China and how networking kind of works there), we managed to build a small network, explaining we wanted to write "made-in-China" science-fiction. Even more determined than when learning for those MITx MOOCs, we settled to work and imagined the story we would both write. Yup. My jacket is my dear co-writer. Thank you for that, jacket. You were a great co-writer. We have come up with a 300-page-fiction (PDF), getting ready to be published as a book (French, Chinese, English). Congratulations, trilingual jacket! You made it ;-) What helped us through the ordeal is our Chinese network (businessmen, students, scientists from academia, all of them great fan of yours, dear jacket), and our passion for made-in-China science-fiction. 
When you find yourself not being able to breathe, and see others suffer around you, you come to think that there must be more to a bloody congress uniform painted by Regina than just hype, mHealth yada yada yada. Wouldn't you agree, dear jacket?
I am fully aware, dear Jacket, that writing this techno-medical thriller, "Airpocalypse", is certainly not the task that was assigned to us by Regina. We both had to agree very early on one strategy: head off the beaten path. Speaking of which, dear jacket: wouldn't you agree? This maybe was the hardest part.
"Airpocalypse", our first techno-medical thriller, will be out this summer, French version. English and Chinese versions will follow...
"Find out what it is that touches you most deeply. Pursue it, learn about it, explore it, expand on it. Live with it and nurture it."
Surviving this accident (famous Nimoy quote hit us like a train, i'm afraid), we just know one thing: we've been through hard things in China, saw traumatic stuff, have been to dark (and dirty) places, so please, let us learn and write in peace. Dear jacket, thanks for proving to me that we ain't no circus animal and that the agenda is ours.
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The Fifth Element Is The Patient







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Airpocalypse, le Matrix d'aujourd'hui dans la e-santé











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"Airpocalypse" French version ready March 31rst 2017

https://www.instagram.com/camilladerrico
I've been working full-time on this techno-medical thriller (week-ends included) for over one year. Will be emerging soon, so this wonderful painting by Camilla Derrico (i'm a great fan of hers) resonates with me right now...

BTW I saw my publisher today...

My second techno-medical thriller will be out end of 2017. It will be a novel -- but it's not the prequel or sequel to ;-)
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Welcome. I'm the author of Airpocalypse, a medical thriller (2017)

Follow me on twitter: @cathcoste or @DnaCowgirl
Follow me on Facebook
Airpocalypse, roman techno-médical. Version française en cours de préparation. Illustrations par Florence Cartozo Catherine Coste Patrick Merel

This was the early prototype, made one year ago, for the Airpocalypse project. A medical thriller, action taking place in Beijing, where i spent 3 years, on and off... Also, took a few Chinese language lessons ;-)
Today, i am finalizing the book. A film production company based in Taiwan is interested in the book. Movie and musical (Les Miz, made by China!) are currently under preparation...

You can find me on twitter...




... and on LinkedIn








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Airpocalypse, a medical thriller - Un roman techno-médical


Airpocalypse tells the story of U.S. & Chinese efforts to prevent the merger of two silos: well-funded terrorist organization Daesh & organ trafficking in Xinjiang, a Muslim Chinese province. French, English and Chinese (Taiwan) versions will be out in 2017-2018.

Airpocalypse raconte les efforts communs déployés par les USA et la Chine pour empêcher la fusion de deux silos : l'organisation terroriste Daesh, richement financée, et le trafic d'organes dans le Xinjiang, une province musulmane chinoise.
Lenoir: "Il paraît que ce sont les services secrets chinois qui gouvernent en Corée du Nord, non l'Etat Parti chinois, encore moins les USA. On m'aurait dit qu'on m'invitait en Chine pour prélever des coeurs sur des Tibétains à des fins de transplantation, je me serais méfié, aurais prétexté un rendez-vous chez le dentiste. Mais sur des ressortissants du Xinjiang, province musulmane Chinoise, ou des adeptes du yoga, ces Falun Gong dont personne n'a entendu parler mais qui paraît-il sont l'ennemi public numéro un des autorités chinoises ?! Et voilà que Kim Jong-un cherche à fricoter avec Daesh, voisin immédiat du Xinjiang. Le gouvernement chinois craint une contamination par Daesh via la Corée du Nord. Sans parler des ex-républiques soviétiques, où tous les signaux sont au rouge. Quand j'ai fait mes études de médecine, on nous fournissait un scalpel ; pas une mappemonde …"

Lenoir: "It seems that the Chinese secret services govern North Korea, not the Chinese Party, let alone the US. Had they told me that I was invited to China to harvest hearts from Tibetans, I would have given my annual dental check-up as an excuse. Now, instead of Tibet, how about Xinjiang, a Chinese Muslim province, or some yoga followers from this Falun Gong sect no one has heard of, but they are supposed to be the N°1 public enemy of Chinese officials ?! And now Kim Jong-un is trying to mess with Daesh, whose territory is located right next to Xinjiang. Hence Chinese authorities are fearing contamination by Daesh via North Korea, not to mention the former Soviet republics, where all the alarm bells are ringing. When I studied medicine, we were provided with a scalpel; not a world map ..."

 This is material under copyright. Ce matériel est sous copyright. 
Author: Catherine Coste
Auteur : Catherine Coste
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CRISPR, a geopolitical editing tool in med thriller "Airpocalyse"

Illustration by Florence Cartozo

« In the US science has to be religion-compliant and middle-class is shrinking, whereas in China religion has to be science-compliant and middle-class is expanding. »

Lenoir, a French cardiac surgeon in my upcoming medical thriller Airpocalypse.

Airpocalypse tells the story of U.S. & Chinese efforts to prevent the merger of two silos: well-funded terrorist organization Daesh & organ trafficking in Xinjiang, a Muslim Chinese province. Until now, genomics and geopolitics were two separate silos. Cool gene editing tool CRISPR is a game changer, as it is not only a scientific tool. Also, it is becoming a geopolitics editing tool. 

Author: Catherine Coste

Copyrighted material
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A medical thriller about CRISPR (soon out)

Catherine Coste

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Airpocalypse, my med. thriller, out soon (FR version)

Airpocalypse tells the story of U.S. & Chinese efforts to prevent the merger of two silos: well-funded terrorist organization Daesh & organ trafficking in Xinjiang, a Muslim Chinese province.

Florence Cartozo






In my upcoming medical , Mia is the assistant to Lenoir, a French cardiac surgeon, senior member of the "Academy de Médecine".

Illustration by Florence Cartozo

Catherine Coste

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Le Corps du CRISPR

Natalie Shau
Please note that this material is under copyright. It will appear in my upcoming medical thriller, French version, "Airpocalypse".
Le corps du CRISPR

Pour Desktop Genetics

Les patients souffrant de cancer
Réclament à corps et à CRISPR
L’outil qui permet
De traiter le génome humain
Lorsque notre ADN se met
A dérailler en se recopiant à l’in-
Fini.

L’ADN se copie
Encore et encore.
Quand il y a des erreurs,
Gare au cancer !
L’ADN qui se reproduit,
Ca peut déclencher tout un tas de maladies.
On attrape le cancer
Lorsque nos cellules font des erreurs
En copiant l’ADN.

L’ADN se copie
Encore et encore.
Quand il y a des erreurs,
Gare au cancer !
L’ADN qui se reproduit,
Ca peut déclencher tout un tas de maladies.
On attrape le cancer
Lorsque nos cellules font des oh-rreurs
En copiant l’ADN.

En lisant l’ADN,
Les chercheurs 
Capturent
Un gène pas très catholique
Causant, par croissance anarchique,
Des tumeurs.

Supprimer, puis réécrire un gène
Dans une cellule humaine
Pour voir comment l’organisme
Se comporte
Sans ce traumatisme,
Ce n’est pas de la tarte !
L’ADN est tout emberlificoté
Dans une microscopique cellule,
Retranché derrière deux membranes qui l’isolent.

Or voici que prendre l’ADN pour cible
Est désormais possible.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.
L’ADN a beau être entortillé
Dans une cellule microscopique
Entourée de deux parois,
Fini le désarroi.
Une nouvelle technique
Permet de supprimer, copier et coller
Des gènes en toute sérénité.
Les bactéries 
Ont un système immunitaire.
Si un virus les attaque,
Elles suppriment tout à trac
L’ennemi.
Cette stratégie immunitaire,
Cette technique
100% biologique,
A été étudiée
Puis imitée
Par des scientifiques.
CRISPR est né,
C’est un outil qui permet de réécrire ou changer,
Comme vous voudrez,
L’ADN humain.

Des protéines-ciseaux capables de couper
N’importe quelle séquence d’ADN
Dans n’importe quelle cellule déterminée
Du corps humain.
Cibler l’aiguille dans la botte de foin.
Ces ciseaux moléculaires
A couper l’ADN
Sont programmés grace à des « software ».
Ces ciseaux moléculaires
S’insèrent
Dans les cellules de tout 
Organisme vivant.
Avec CRISPR, vous
Coupez d’un coup de ciseaux 
L’ADN des cellules can-
Céreuses.
Un gène pas catholique ?
Clac, un coup de ciseaux,
Ca lui coupe la chique
Et le cancer
Va se faire voir
Ailleurs.

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.

Si vous pensez que c’est là déraison,
Cette histoire de cancer coupé
Par des protéines-ciseaux,
C’est que vous n’avez pas encore entendu parler
De la nouvelle religion,
Le corps du CRISPR.

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Les cellules
Cancéreuses
Sont à présent sous contrôle.
Quels gènes causent quels
Cancers ?

Selon que ce gène-ci
Cause ce cancer-ci
Ou que ce gène-là
Cause ce cancer-là,
Le docteur ne prescrira pas
La même chimiothérapie,
Radiothérapie et caetera.
Le corps du CRISPR
Ca dit c’est comme ci 
Ou c’est comme ça.
Le corps du CRISPR sera là
Pour indiquer le traitement le plus adéquat. 

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.

Si vous pensez que c’est là déraison,
Cette histoire de cancer coupé
Par des protéines-ciseaux,
C’est que vous n’avez pas encore entendu parler
De la nouvelle religion,
Le corps du CRISPR.

Dans la résistance aux antibiotiques,
Un problème de santé publique
Majeur,
Utiliser CRISPR
Pour empêcher
Tout micro-organisme de résister
Aux effets des antibiotiques.
A la bonne heure,
CRISPR,
Ce drôle de loustic,
Permet de supprimer
La résistance aux antibiotiques.

Les chirurgiens dans le futur
Transplanteront des gènes
Au lieu 
Des organes.
Grâce à CRISPR,
Un gène capricieux
Pourra être remplacé
Par son frère jumeau plus gracieux.
CRISPR. Couper. Coller.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.

CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.
Gare !
CRISPR est le croisé du cancer
Qui rime avec futur.
Il va évangéliser la Terre
Plus vite que son ombre.

Si vous pensez que c’est là déraison,
Cette histoire de cancer coupé
Par des protéines-ciseaux,
C’est que vous n’avez pas encore entendu parler
De la nouvelle religion,
Le corps du CRISPR.

CRISPR. Couper. Coller.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.

CRISPR. Couper. Coller.
Ce n’est pas de la magie,
Plutôt de la biologie.



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Airpocalypso




David Delmare
Florence Cartozo
Please note that this material is under copyright. It will appear in my upcoming medical thriller, French version, "Airpocalypse".

Airpocalypso
Pour Jean-Christophe Victor

La Chine met en service
Deux usines à combustion
De charbon
Chaque mois,
Ce qui conduit
Le pays
A brûler aujourd’hui
50% de la production
Mondiale annuelle
De charbon.
Le C0 2 dans l’air explose,
Les microparticules
De moins de 2,5 micromètres 
De diamètre,
100 fois plus fines qu’un cheveu,
Aussi.

« Particulate Matter 2.5 »
Est le petit nom
De ta bronchite chronique,
De ton cancer du poumon
Ou de ta crise cardiaque.
PM 2.5 s’échappe
Des voitures, des plantes ou
Du charbon,
A Delhi, Patna, Gwalior et Raipur
PM 2.5 made-in-India.
Ou made-in-Pakistan :
Karachi, Peshawar et Rawalpindi.
PM 2.5 made-in-China :
Pékin est sous le smog,
Baoding, Shijiazhuang et Xingtai aussi.
« Particulate Matter 2.5 »
La Chine est le premier marché
De véhicules particuliers
Au monde.

Airpocalypso
L’économie prend son essor
Et la sirène se mord
La queue.

La circulation
Est responsable de 58% des émissions
De monoxyde d’azote
Et de 25% des émissions
De particules fines.
En Chine,
Toujours plus à l’ouest.
Arrivée au Xinjiang,
Airpocalypso
Redevient petite sirène.
Mais à l’est de la Chine,
La concentration de particules fines,
De dix fois supérieure
Au niveau moyen
Recommandé par l’OMS…
Airpocalypso
L’économie prend son essor
Et la sirène se mord
La queue.

Calypso
Et sa toux sifflante
A la COP 21
Puis à la 22,
Surnageant
Dans les vrombissements
Des moteurs
De mobylettes à Marrakech.
Les minarets
De mosquées,
Cheminées enfumées,
Nagent et toussent
Dans les pots d’échappement
De ruelle en ruelle.
A la Médina,
De minaret-fil en minaret-aiguille,
La petite sirène 
Nage dans le désert.

A la 22 il n’y a que
Les cigognes, installées
Sur la paille en haut
Des minarets,
Qui prient,
De fil en aiguille,
Pour Airpocalypso.
Les minarets brodent,
La santé se brade.
La petite sirène
Est un objet en filigrane
D’argent.
Airpocalypso
L’économie prend son essor
Et la sirène se mord
La queue.

Demain est né
D’une sirène 
Pérenne,
Celle qui prend son essor
Tandis que l’économie se mord
La queue.
Calypso.
Demain est né
D’une sirène 
Pérenne,
Celle qui prend son essor
Tandis que l’économie se mord
La queue.

Calypso.
Bossy Missy Meteorology, For Plume Labs App (English version)

Plume Labs App
Telling me 
What’s
Hanging in the air,
The IBM Watson
Of air quality.
Big Data applied
To pollution.

Six types of pollutants:
Particulate matters
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2)
Ozone
Sulfur Dioxide
Carbon Monoxide
Volatile organic compounds.

In the course of
Particulate matters
That will stay forever
In my lungs,
Wind and sun
Matter.
Wind can get us rid
Of pollutants.
Ultraviolet light beams
Are transforming
Exhaust gas
At ground level.
As a consequence:
Ozone!
Ozone is a harmful
Pollutant 
At ground level.

Polluting ozone
Found at ground level
Has nothing to do
With ozone from
The upper 
Atmosphere layer,
Protecting us from
UV light beams
Coming from
The sun.

Six types of pollutants:
Particulate matters
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2)
Ozone
Sulfur Dioxide
Carbon Monoxide
Volatile organic compounds.

In meteorology,
An inversion
Is a deviation
From the normal change
Of an atmospheric property
With altitude.
It refers to a temperature
Inversion,
Which means
Temperature will increase
With heights.
This will create
In the atmosphere
Some hot air cover
Called inversion layer.
Why should I care?
Bloody inversion layer
Will maintain pollutants
On the ground.

Six types of pollutants:
Particulate matters
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2)
Ozone
Sulfur Dioxide
Carbon Monoxide
Volatile organic compounds.

Six types of pollutants.
When their agenda is full,
Be careful.
Don’t take your new baby
On an outing.

Six types of pollutants.
When their agenda is full,
Be careful.
Don’t take your new baby

On an outing.
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