Doctoral Dissertation Research: Anthropological Analysis of Counter-current Techno-scientific Innovation and Scientific Authority

科学创新总是通过拥有最多的资金和最新的设备来改进吗？成功的低成本研究是否可行，它是如何产生的，它如何获得科学权威？在该奖项支持的研究中，研究人员将解决这些重要问题。他们将通过一项人种学调查来做到这一点，调查如何从通常的、高成本的技术科学创新中心开发出一种治疗肺癌的新药。这项研究将对一名美国研究生进行科学数据收集方法的培训。它的发现将有助于扩大药物创新的选择，这对于保护和促进健康的人口仍然是必不可少的。这项研究将由加州大学旧金山分校的医学人类学博士生娜奥米·舍恩菲尔德进行，她的导师是伊恩·惠特马什博士。舍恩菲尔德将专注于这项研究的两个地点。第一个是古巴的一个研究实验室，它开发了一种独特的低成本药物创新系统，使用的模式与美国等主要研发中心的模式不同。第二个是美国一个主要的癌症中心，古巴实验室开发的一种癌症疫苗正在进行临床试验。研究人员将在研究机构、诊所、行政办公室、家庭和会议活动的两个地点收集数据。她将使用一系列人类学研究方法，包括参与者观察、访谈、对科学期刊、法规和法律文件的文本分析，以及互联网、印刷和电视媒体。对这些数据的分析将解决两个首要的研究问题：(1)科学创新的当地条件如何影响进入全球流通？(2)一种新药从边缘化空间逆流移动到被授权为研发中心的地点会产生什么样的科学权威关系？这项研究的结果将对如何开发和支持最具成本效益的科学创新条件产生新的见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Is scientific innovation always improved by having the most money and latest equipment? Is successful lower-cost research feasible, how does it come about, and how does it gain scientific authority? In the research supported by this award, the researchers will address these important questions. They will do so through an ethnographic investigation of how a new drug for treatment of lung cancer has been developed away from the usual, high-cost centers of techno-scientific innovation. The research will train an American graduate student in scientific methods of data collection. Its findings will help to expand the options for pharmaceutical innovation, which remains essential for protecting and promoting a healthy population. The research will be carried out by Naomi Schoenfeld, a University of California, San Francisco, medical anthropology doctoral student, who is supervised by Dr. Ian Whitmarsh. Schoenfeld will focus on two sites for the research. The first is a research laboratory in Cuba, which has developed a unique system of lower-cost pharmaceutical innovation using a model different from that of major research and development centers, such as those in the United States. The second is a major American cancer center where a cancer vaccine developed by the Cuban laboratory is being tested in clinical trials. The researcher will collect data at both sites in research institutes, clinics, administrative offices, homes, and conference events. She will use a range of anthropological research methods including participant observation; interviews; textual analysis of scientific journals, regulatory and legal documents, and internet, print, and television media. Analysis of these data will address two overarching research questions: (1) How do local conditions of scientific innovation influence entry into global circulation? (2) What relations of scientific authority are generated by the counter-current movement of a new drug from marginalized spaces toward sites authorized as centers of research and development? Results of this study will generate new insights into how to develop and support the most cost-effective conditions for scientific innovation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.