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

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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.