{"title":"Data curation-research: practices of data standardization and exploration in a precision medicine database","authors":"Niccoló Tempini","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1853513","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1853513","url":null,"abstract":"Key to precision medicine is the development of expert database projects that gather data, integrate them in the pre-existing database, and publish the product of their processing for others to make use of. Increasingly, it is required that data infrastructure managers and curators pursue and lead research projects on the data so as to learn about new ways data could be used or information that could be potentially generated from them. I call these efforts “data curation-research” and use the case study of COSMIC, the Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer, to analyze the contextual factors shaping the science of data curation-research. I build on March’s organizational learning categories of exploitation and exploration to place these factors within a theory of organizational change and innovation, and contribute to a richer picture of the social drivers of cancer genomics.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"36 1","pages":"73 - 94"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87536587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Epistemic dwelling: precision immuno-oncology by design","authors":"Luca Chiapperino, Nils Graber, F. Panese","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1853511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1853511","url":null,"abstract":"This paper details how the architectural features of a new cancer research center (henceforth “NCRC”) contribute to the alignment of different institutional settings, epistemic approaches and communities of practices around precision immuno-oncology. First, we show how the building’s designed emplacement produces an organizational change directed at accelerating the traffic of discoveries and the collaborations across basic research and clinical practice. Second, we focus on the contribution of the NCRC’s internal design (i.e. its laboratory spaces) to a larger spatial, epistemic and social (re)organization of (local) experimental practices of patient-tailored immunotherapies development. Our focus on the articulations of spaces, experimental systems and epistemic socialities allows us to characterize our observations of the NCRC as epistemic dwelling. This notion, we maintain, highlights how the NCRC goes beyond the physical networking of neighboring experimental practices and rather encompasses a generative process of co-habitation of a novel socio-spatial-technical unit of scientific activity.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"47 1","pages":"26 - 41"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78909702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases: expansion of affected populations, the participatory turn, and the co-production of biovalue","authors":"Rafaela Granja","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1853515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1853515","url":null,"abstract":"Long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases have been the subject of intense interest since the high-profile case of the Golden State Killer. This technique has raised considerable media attention and has sparked immediate criticism from forensic geneticists and other professionals, regulators, policy advisors, and ethicists. However, the literature on this topic does not capture the complexities resulting from the commodification of genetic data and the marketization of science. In this article, I explore how long-range familial searches conducted in recreational DNA databases reframe the trajectory of forensic genetics. Arguing that the advent and consolidation of long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases represent the fourth wave of forensic genetics, I detail its implications, namely, the expansion of affected populations, the participatory turn, and the co-production of biovalue.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"47 1","pages":"331 - 352"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86491923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond nosology? Molecular tumor boards, singularization, and the conflation of diagnosis and therapy","authors":"A. Cambrosio, Jonah Campbell, P. Bourret","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1853512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1853512","url":null,"abstract":"This article partakes in a number of recent attempts to map the reconfiguration of clinical work as part of the deployment of precision oncology. We focus on the platforms, in particular Molecular Tumor Boards, that act as a condition of possibility for implementing innovative experimental interventions, and which are part of the emergence, beyond the traditional confines of diagnosis, of a data “ecosystem” geared towards increasing patient access to drugs matched to their genomic profile. MTBs are a key component of this singularization process, and their activities are central to the looping mechanisms that connect the diagnosis of individual patients to the revision of diagnostic categories. These categories are no longer “merely” diagnostic but operate as predictive guides to therapy.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"44 1","pages":"95 - 111"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78569358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sequencing BGI: the evolution of expertise and research organisation in the world’s leading gene sequencing facility","authors":"Kai Wang, Xiaobai Shen, Robin Williams","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1843148","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1843148","url":null,"abstract":"The increasing importance of computational techniques in post-genomic life science research calls for new forms and combinations of expertise that cut across established disciplinary boundaries between computing and biology. These are most marked in large scale gene sequencing facilities. Here new ways of organising knowledge production, drawing on industrial models, have been perceived as pursuing efficiency and control to the potential detriment of academic autonomy and scientific quality. We explore how these issues are played out in the case of BGI (Beijing Genomics Institute prior to 2008). BGI (in Pinyin, Hua Da Jiyin– Big China Genome) is today the world’s largest centre for gene sequencing research. Semi-detached from traditional academic institutions, BGI has developed distinctive models for organising research and for developing expertise, informed by practices in US Information Technology and Life Science Laboratories, that differ from existing models of interdisciplinary research in academic institutions.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"4 1","pages":"305 - 330"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82670737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Problematizing consent: searching genetic genealogy databases for law enforcement purposes","authors":"Gabrielle Samuel, D. Kennett","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1843149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1843149","url":null,"abstract":"Genetic genealogy databases have become particularly attractive to law enforcement agencies, especially in the United States (US), which have started to employ genealogists to search them with unknown origin DNA from unidentified human remains (suicides, missing persons) or from a serious crime scene, to help identify the victim, or a potential suspected perpetrator, respectively. While this investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) technique holds much promise, its use – particularly during serious criminal investigations – has sparked a range of social and ethical concerns. Receiving consent for IGG from genetic genealogy database users has been argued as a way to address such concerns. While critiques of the importance of consent are well documented in the biomedical and forensic biobanking literature, this has not been explored for IGG. We sought to address this gap by exploring the views of UK stakeholders. Our research question was: what are UK public and professional stakeholders’ views about the importance of the consent process for IGG when used for serious criminal cases? The methodological approach was interview-based and exploratory. Our analysis identified that all interviewees stressed the importance of consent, though interviewees’ narratives pointed to inadequacies of individual-based consent as an ethical panacea for IGG.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"21 1","pages":"284 - 304"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83221772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Māori views of forensic DNA evidence: an instrument of justice or criminalizing technology?","authors":"A. Ahuriri-Driscoll, Juan Tauri, J. Veth","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1829463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1829463","url":null,"abstract":"DNA profiling is just one of many tools available to police in a criminal investigation. However, unlike any other criminal investigative tool, DNA profiling has captured the public imagination. Its portrayal in popular fiction has given rise to the “CSI effect”, whereby the weight and credibility of science, combined with the predictive potential of DNA, produce an aura of infallibility and certainty only amplified by creative license. Genetic material holds particular significance for Indigenous peoples, establishing identity and group membership, as well as associated rights. This taonga (treasure) status entails particular sensitivities regarding its handling and use; these have been well explored in health, but less so in the forensic context. This article presents professional and lay Māori perspectives on forensic DNA technologies in New Zealand, highlighting the inseparability of these from Indigenous experiences of criminalization but also their value in informing operational, ethical and justice-oriented considerations.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"27 1","pages":"249 - 266"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84760876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Call for New Genetics and Society Special Issues","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1845446","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1845446","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"48 1","pages":"508 - 508"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83675798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Many thanks to New Genetics & Society reviewers","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1855786","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1855786","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"100 1","pages":"i - ii"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84971755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Translating cell biology of ageing? On the importance of choreographing knowledge","authors":"Tiago Moreira","doi":"10.1080/14636778.2020.1825932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14636778.2020.1825932","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes and explores how translational research models, embedded in institutions and standards, interact with the epistemic and material practices of cell biologists of ageing, a field re-energized by emergent technoscientific promises that hinge on the possibility of eliminating or manipulating senescent cells to tackle age-related diseases. Drawing on a 3-year long lab ethnography, the paper suggests that knowledge making in cell biology of ageing relies on two different epistemic and material cultures, to then argue that these cultures combine in four different types of experimental systems, only one of which can properly be seen as pertaining to translation as usually conceived. The paper further analyses how cell biologists articulate the linear temporality of translational research with the unfolding experimental chains where, by shifting between types of experimental system, cell biologists are able to generatively reconfigure their epistemic objects, and the consequences of this fragile arrangements for the field.","PeriodicalId":54724,"journal":{"name":"New Genetics and Society","volume":"40 1","pages":"267 - 283"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81898106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}