Std Research: The whys and hows of establishing new model systems in biology and neuroscience

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This research project in the philosophy of biology is supported by the Science, Technology and Society program at NSF and jointly by the SBE and BIO directorates by way of a Dear Colleague Letter, Impacts of Biology on Society. A growing body of studies shows clearly that we have to think much more carefully as a research community about the organisms and models chosen for study particularly with regards to the purposes informing the choice and whether those organisms and models really are the right ones for the tasks at hand. Important decisions must be made about whether and how to expand the variety of model systems in biology and behavioral science, about how to prioritize new model systems within specific domains, and about how to justify such prioritization exercises in biology more generally. The focus of the research will be on two areas of science in which scientists are actively attempting to expand the repertoire of model systems: evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and cognitive neuroscience. This examination will be primarily philosophical, though deeply embedded in the details of the relevant science, historically well-grounded, collaborative, and supported by qualitative data collection, synthesis, and analysis. Historians and philosophers of science have made significant contributions especially to the history of the establishment of current experimental models, as well as to the philosophical criticism of historical and contemporary experimental approaches. But this foundational scholarship has not provided any prospective analysis of possible and desirable future trajectories in response to historical analysis and philosophical criticism. This project seeks to fill this gap in the history and philosophy of biological and behavioral research with model organisms. In a context of demands for 'translational research' to provide a clinical or economic or other return-on-investment for public funding of science, scientists are increasingly called upon to justify their research not just to each other, but also publicly, enthusiastically, and, above all, honestly. The proposed research will begin to equip biologists with new knowledge about the benefits and limitations of particular research programs and about strategies for expanding the knowledge-base of biological and behavioral science.