Doctoral Dissertation Research: Do-It-Yourself Biology, Deliberation and Democracy

一般受众摘要本论文项目将通过关注DIY-YOY生物学来开发公民对科学治理的讨论的案例研究，DIY-YOY生物学是一种业余科学形式，使与学术或公司实验室无关的个人可以接触到相对简单的生物技术实践。研究人员将使用档案研究和人种学方法探索DIY生物学网络如何定义合成生物学及其治理。将探讨的问题包括该网络与学术和企业科学家以及其他利益相关者的关系，美国和欧盟的监管结构如何向该网络提供信息并做出回应，以及这些谈判对转基因生物和基因科学的未来造成的后果。这项研究将产生对学者、政策制定者和从业者有用的数据。研究结果将通过《科学社会科学》、《公众对科学的理解》和《科学传播》等期刊向学术受众传播。它们还将在广泛可获得的报纸和杂志文章中传播。此外，研究人员将开发一个在线维基，其中汇编了与使用转基因生物的实验室有关的当地、国家和国际法规的链接，以便使从业者能够随着时间的推移添加更多链接。技术摘要利用档案和人种学方法，研究人员将探索旧金山地区的DIY生物学，该地区是该项目美国阶段的主要地点；该地区在生物技术和微电子的发展中发挥着关键作用，这两个趋势在合成生物学中汇聚在一起。丹麦哥本哈根是该项目欧盟阶段的主要地点，因为它在发展当代生物技术、制定国家和国际生物技术政策以及鼓励公民积极参与监管进程方面发挥了领导作用。人种学方法与档案研究的补充将使这项研究回到过去，以突出DIY生物学是如何与微电子和生物技术的历史概念相呼应或背离的。该项目将促进关于新兴技术如何构成、合法化和治理，以及民主如何运作的多学科对话。通过将公民定位为科学技术的实践者，DIY生物学提供了一个机会，在治理的背景下重新考虑科学家与公民之间的互动。该项目将揭示不同文化背景下科学与政治之间不断变化的互动，人们深思熟虑的动机是什么，人们在日常生活中如何经历深思熟虑，以及他们的深思熟虑对治理系统的影响。

General Audience Summary This dissertation project will develop a case study of citizen deliberations about the governance of science by focusing on Do-It-Yourself Biology, a form of amateur science that makes relatively simple biotechnology practices accessible to individuals who are not affiliated with academic or corporate laboratories. The researcher will explore how the DIY Biology network defines synthetic biology and its governance using archival research and ethnographic methods. Issues to be explored include how the network relates to academic and corporate scientists and other stakeholders, how US and EU regulatory structures inform and respond to the network, and the consequences these negotiations pose for genetically modified organisms and the future of genetic sciences. The study will generate data that will be useful to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. The results of the study will be disseminated to academic audiences through journals such as Social Studies of Science, Public Understanding of Science, and Science Communication. They will also be disseminated in widely accessible newspaper and magazine articles. In addition, the researcher will develop an online wiki that compiles links to local, national and international regulations pertaining to laboratories that work with transgenic organisms in order to enable practitioners to add more links over time.Technical SummaryUsing archival and ethnographic methods, the researcher will explore how DIY Biology in the San Francisco area, which serves as the primary site of the US phase of the project; the region plays a pivotal role in the development of biotechnology and microelectronics, two streams that are converging in synthetic biology. Copenhagen, Denmark, serves as the primary site of the EU phase of the project due to its leadership in developing contemporary biotechnology, in formulating national and international biotechnology policies, and in encouraging active citizen participation in the regulatory process. Complementing an ethnographic approach with archival study will extend this research back in time to highlight how DIY Biology echoes or diverges from historical conceptions of microelectronics and biotechnology. The project will contribute to multi-disciplinary conversations about how emerging technologies are constituted, legitimized and governed, and how democracies operate. By positioning citizens as practitioners of scientific techniques, DIY Biology offers an opportunity to reconsider scientist-citizen interactions in the context of governance. The project will shed light on the shifting interactions between science and politics in different cultural contexts, on what motivates people to deliberate and how people experience deliberation in their daily lives, and on the effects their deliberations have on governance systems.