Doct Dissertation Research: Blueprints for Behavior: Constructing Experimental Systems in Behavioral Genetics

博士论文研究：行为蓝图：构建行为遗传学实验系统

• 批准号: 0749635
• 负责人: Stephen Hilgartner
• 金额: $ 0.8万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-02-15 至 2010-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0749635&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doct; Dissertation; Research; Blueprints; Behavior

This doctoral dissertation research improvement grant is co-funded by the Science & Society program and the Directorate of Biological Sciences under the Biology & Society initiative. Behavioral genetics holds much promise for understanding the genetics of human disorders such as alcoholism, autism and anxiety, but it is also a controversial enterprise that has, at times, been surrounded by charges of genetic determinism and subjected to media scrutiny. In the past fifteen years, new techniques for manipulating animal genomes have led to an explosion of research on the genetics of human psychiatric disorders using animals such as mice. This research project will explore some of the challenges of creating convincing animal models, not only with regard to theoretical concerns and practical problems, but also in light of concerns about potential political and social issues.Behavioral genetics is a heterogeneous discipline, and researchers with different scientific backgrounds hold conflicting opinions on how animals should be used to represent human behaviors. Behavioral testing is also notoriously complex; multiple tests exist for the same behaviors, and the same test can be performed in many different ways. In order to be useful, these models and tests must be standardized and widely accepted by the behavioral genetics community. Ultimately, the data produced from these models must also be convincing to funding agencies and to the public. Using interviews and participant observation, this project seeks to investigate how standardized experimental practices are developed, debated and circulated in places such as laboratories, scientific publications and conferences, and how results are disseminated to the public.This study stands to advance our understanding of the challenges faced by scientists studying complex and controversial disorders, and how assumptions about what constitutes a good test or a good representation of the human are embedded into standardized tests and carried forward into later research. This study also can contribute to our understanding of how scientists conceptualize ethical issues in their research and respond to them in their day-to-day work.

该博士论文研究改进补助金由科学与社会计划和生物科学理事会根据生物与社会倡议共同资助。 行为遗传学对于理解酗酒、自闭症和焦虑等人类疾病的遗传学有很大希望，但它也是一项有争议的事业，有时被遗传决定论的指控所包围，并受到媒体的审查。在过去的十五年里，操纵动物基因组的新技术导致利用小鼠等动物对人类精神疾病的遗传学研究激增。 该研究项目将探讨创建令人信服的动物模型的一些挑战，不仅涉及理论问题和实际问题，还考虑到潜在的政治和社会问题。行为遗传学是一门异质学科，不同科学背景的研究人员对于如何使用动物代表人类行为持有相互矛盾的观点。行为测试也是出了名的复杂。对于相同的行为存在多种测试，并且可以以多种不同的方式执行相同的测试。 为了发挥作用，这些模型和测试必须标准化并被行为遗传学界广泛接受。最终，这些模型产生的数据还必须对资助机构和公众具有说服力。该项目旨在通过访谈和参与观察来调查标准化实验实践是如何在实验室、科学出版物和会议等场所制定、辩论和传播的，以及结果如何向公众传播。这项研究将增进我们对研究复杂和有争议疾病的科学家所面临的挑战的理解，以及如何将关于什么构成良好测试或良好代表人类的假设嵌入到标准化中 并进行了测试并延续到后来的研究中。 这项研究还有助于我们了解科学家如何在研究中概念化伦理问题并在日常工作中应对这些问题。