Dissertation Research: Genomics and the Future of Aging

这个《科学与技术研究》的人种志论文研究项目探讨了对基因和基因组的研究如何将生物科学和计算机工业的资源结合起来，为人类衰老产生新的意义和可能性。它将研究基因组学目前的努力如何通过管理与年龄有关的疾病和延长寿命，将抗衰老的论述与再造和修复的概念结合起来，为更“成功”的衰老开辟前景。它认为，在基因组学研究中，将有机和计算材料和思想结合起来的工作对生物学理论的发展至关重要，这在人类衰老领域尤其值得分析。长期以来，衰老一直被认为是一种自然过程，既欢迎也抵制人类的干预，现在它正成为技术梦想的对象，就像过去几十年里的生殖一样。就像在生殖的例子中一样，干预衰老的可能性引发了关于自然和正常的范畴是如何构成的问题，以及它们是如何相交和分化的问题。在后基因组时代，自然和正常的文化概念（部分地）建立在基因芯片和其他计算工具的平凡细节上，生物学家使用这些工具来识别与年龄相关的基因，并开发衰老过程的模型。该项目旨在围绕基因和计算机的结合机制，追踪塑造成功衰老新愿景的关系。它侧重于生物学家、计算机科学家和其他合作分析基因组数据的人的解释性工作，以产生有关基因功能的有意义的、连贯的故事。美国国家科学基金会资助了位于旧金山湾区的一个分子和细胞生物学研究实验室的人种学研究，该实验室由一位衰老生物学高级研究员领导。在12个月的时间里，研究人员将与那些工作依赖于计算资源和工程同事的科学家进行接触，以确定如何将当地信息技术的能力和限制因素纳入实验设计。通过其民族志方法，本研究探索了新的生物学事实与社会对健康和青年的关注之间的联系。因为它们在日常实践中与组织培养和数据库软件等多种材料一起工作。这个项目在促进公众对基因组研究和人类衰老新理论的影响的讨论方面为社会提供了好处。即使当前的科学强调基因及其相互作用的复杂性和不确定性，公共话语也倾向于基因决定论。对基因组分析和发现的更细致入微的描述将有助于非科学家理解如何解释新的结果，并提出有关基因组知识的生物社会含义的问题。此外，从人类学的角度来看，计算与生物学的融合可以增强这些领域从业者的合作努力。

This ethnographic dissertation research project in Science and Technology Studies asks how investigations into genes and genomes blend the resources of the biological sciences and the computer industry to produce new meanings and possibilities for human aging. It will examine how current efforts in genomics open up prospects for more "successful" aging through the management of age-related diseases and extensions in life span, bringing together discourses of anti-aging with notions of reengineering and repair. It posits that the work of aligning organic and computational materials and ideas in genomics research is consequential for the development of biological theory, and that this is especially worth analyzing in the field of human aging. Aging has long been contested as a natural process that both invites and resists human intervention, and it is nowbecoming an object of technological dreams, just as reproduction has been for the past several decades. As in the case of reproduction, the possibility of intervening in aging raises questions about how thecategories of the natural and normal are constituted and how they intersect and diverge. In a postgenomic era, cultural concepts of nature and normality are grounded (in part) in the mundane details ofgene chips and other computational tools, which biologists use to identify age-related genes and develop models of the aging process. This project seeks to trace the relations that shape new visions ofsuccessful aging around the combined mechanisms of genes and computers. It focuses on the interpretive work of biologists, computer scientists, and others who collaborate on the analysis of genomic data to produce meaningful, coherent stories about what genes do. NSF funds support ethnographic research at a research lab in molecular and cell biology, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is led by a senior researcher in the biology of aging. Over a period of 12 months, the researcher will engage with scientists whose work relies on computational resources and access to engineering colleagues in order to identify how the capabilities and constraints of local information technologies are factored into experimental designThrough its ethnographic approach, this study explores the linkages between new biological facts and societal concerns about health and youth, as they are articulated in the everyday practices of working with materials as diverse as tissue cultures and database software. This project offers benefits to society in fostering public discourse on the implications of genomic research and new theories of human aging. Even as the current science emphasizes more complexity and indeterminacy in genes and their interactions, public discourse tends toward genetic determinism. A more nuanced account of genomic analysis and discovery will help non-scientists understand how to interpret new results and ask questions about the biosocial implications of genomic knowledge. In addition, an anthropological perspective on the blending of computation with biology can enhance the collaborative efforts of practitioners in these fields.