RNAi, Race, and the Domestication of Biotechnology: The Emergence of Cosmetic Genomics

RNAi、种族和生物技术的驯化：化妆品基因组学的出现

• 批准号: 0749769
• 负责人: Rebecca Herzig
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Bates College
• 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: 2008-04-15 至 2010-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0749769&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RNAi; Race; Domestication; Biotechnology; Emergence

This project, co-funded by the Science & Society program and the Directorate for Biological Sciences under the Biology and Society initiative, maps the previously unexamined field of cosmetic genomics. In so doing, this work explores the relations between the global aesthetics industry and the human life sciences more broadly. Specifically, the project surveys ongoing efforts to adapt techniques of selective gene silencing to the elimination of unwanted body hair. Topical creams delivering short interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNAs) to targeted cells are already in clinical trials; additional techniques of ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) are currently under investigation.Such genetic tools portend a cataclysmic shift in the multibillion-dollar global market in hair removing goods and services, a fact well understood by the investors and company managers directing resources toward competitive research. At the same time, widespread adoption of these tools, designed to end visible hair growth, would reconfigure a classic marker of phenotypic difference. RNAi-mediated hair removal thus appears to be on the leading edge of scientific studies of racial and sexual variation. Grounded in a series of semi-structured interviews with industry leaders, regulatory authorities, and genome scientists, the project advances knowledge by: 1) offering a crucial new perspective on emerging relations between genomics, race, and gender; and 2) illuminating the significance of seemingly trivial matters like hair removal to the diffusion of biotechnology into daily life. In supplying a richly textured account of research into new gene-based hair removal products, the project will complement several existing analytical literatures, including work in critical gender studies, social studies of race, science, and technology, the ethical, legal, and social implications of human genomics, and cultural studies of body modification. The results of this research will be disseminated broadly, including as a portion of a book-length history of sciences of hair removal in the United States. The project stands to provide general readers with useful tools for navigating the ever-changing terrain of "personal enhancement."

该项目由科学社会计划和生物科学理事会在生物学与社会倡议下共同资助，绘制了以前未经审查的化妆品基因组学领域。在这样做的过程中，这项工作更广泛地探讨了全球美学产业与人类生命科学之间的关系。 具体来说，该项目调查了正在进行的努力，以适应选择性基因沉默技术，以消除不需要的体毛。 将短干扰核糖核酸（siRNA）传递到靶细胞的外用乳膏已经进入临床试验;核糖核酸干扰（RNAi）的其他技术目前正在研究中。这种遗传工具预示着数十亿美元的全球脱毛产品和服务市场将发生灾难性的变化，投资者和公司经理们非常了解这一事实，将资源投入竞争性研究。 与此同时，广泛采用这些旨在终止可见毛发生长的工具，将重新配置表型差异的经典标记。 因此，RNAi介导的脱毛似乎是种族和性别差异科学研究的前沿。 基于对行业领导者，监管机构和基因组科学家的一系列半结构化访谈，该项目通过以下方式推进知识：1）提供关于基因组学，种族和性别之间新兴关系的重要新视角; 2）阐明看似微不足道的事情的重要性，如脱毛生物技术扩散到日常生活中。在提供一个丰富的纹理帐户的研究到新的基因为基础的脱毛产品，该项目将补充现有的几个分析文献，包括工作在关键性别研究，种族，科学和技术的社会研究，伦理，法律的，和人类基因组学的社会影响，和身体改造的文化研究。 这项研究的结果将被广泛传播，包括作为一本书的长度在美国脱毛科学的历史的一部分。 该项目旨在为普通读者提供有用的工具，帮助他们在不断变化的“个人提升”领域中导航。"