Books & Books and Miami Book Fair present…

An Evening with Jorge L. Contreras and Daniel B. Ravicher

in conversation with

Miami Lit Podcast

discussing

The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA

(Algonquin Books, $17.99)

Thursday, August 4, 7 PM | IN-PERSON at Books & Books, Coral Gables

Signing to follow the conversation 

RSVP HERE TO ATTEND

Join us in-person at Books & Books as Jorge L. Contreras discusses THE GENOME DEFENSE.

This event is FREE and open to the public and books will be available for purchase the night of the event so make sure to stay after the talk for a book signing! Please RSVP only if you intend to join us.

About the Book:

In this riveting, behind-the-scenes courtroom drama, a brilliant legal team battles corporate greed and government overreach for our fundamental right to control our genes.

When attorney Chris Hansen learned that the U.S. government was issuing patents for human genes to biotech companies, his first thought was, How can a corporation own what makes us who we are? Then he discovered that women were being charged exorbitant fees to test for hereditary breast and ovarian cancers, tests they desperately needed—all because Myriad Genetics had patented the famous BRCA genes. So he sued them.

Jorge L. Contreras, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on human genetics law, has devoted years to investigating the groundbreaking civil rights case known as AMP v. Myriad. In The Genome Defense Contreras gives us the view from inside as Hansen and his team of ACLU lawyers, along with a committed group of activists, scientists, and physicians, take their one-in-a-million case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Contreras interviewed more than a hundred key players involved in all aspects of the case—from judges and policy makers to ethicists and genetic counselors, as well as cancer survivors and those whose lives would be impacted by the decision—expertly weaving together their stories into a fascinating narrative of this pivotal moment in history.

The Genome Defense is a powerful and compelling story about how society must balance scientific discovery with corporate profits and the rights of all people.

BUY THE BOOK

About the Author:

JORGE L. CONTRERAS received his law degree from Harvard and teaches intellectual property, science policy and the law and ethics of genetics at the University of Utah, and has served on high‑level governmental advisory committees. His articles have appeared in Science, Nature, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, among others. He has been featured on NPR, PRI and BBC radio, and his opinions are cited in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, andthe Washington Post.

About Dan:

DANIEL B. RAVICHER is a Partner at Zeisler PLLC where he represents clients in business and technology related litigation and transactions, which he’s done since the dotcom boom. Dan’s litigation experience includes representing intellectual property rights holders and accused infringers in cases across the country involving pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, semiconductors, telecommunications, software, consumer electronics, and other technologies. He won the 2013 Supreme Court case that held human genes cannot be patented, which is the subject of the 2021 book The Genome Defense by Jorge Contreras.