Dissertation Research: Genetics, Biotechnology and Disease: Group Standards of Collaborative Diabetes Sciences

本论文研究项目调查了一个遗传科学家联盟，因为他们积极地将标记有历史上特定的种族民间分类的DNA转化为具有生物学意义的物质。正在审查的财团包括已经形成联盟的科学家，该联盟是跨学科的，跨国的，由公共和私人学术，临床，非政府，生物技术和国家资助的机构组成。这项调查是锚定在一个子集集群内的财团由科学家组成的芝加哥大学与华盛顿，得克萨斯州健康科学大学，和解码遗传学公司，冰岛生物技术公司。作为该联盟的当然成员，并通过合作研究的途径跟踪DNA数据集回到它们的起源点，研究人员将调查从种族标记人群中提取的DNA如何转化为对2型糖尿病的遗传理解。糖尿病的遗传学是一个丰富的领域，通过它来调查种族在生物医学研究中的使用和定义，因为据说其风险因素包括饮食，生活方式，社会经济地位以及各种种族和/或民族群体的成员资格。然而，使用来自种族识别人群的DNA对医学研究提出了挑战，因为遗传标记及其贡献在人群之间和人群内各不相同。此外，这些疾病的环境风险因素使得分离遗传原因成为问题。尽管如此，按种族对人群进行分析是糖尿病遗传流行病学的第一阶段。虽然种族的生物差异的发展的历史记录表明了残酷的后果，但对生物种族的简单起诉往往忽视了生物和社会知识的产生方式。哈里森（Harrison，1995）指出，对种族的生物学概念的批判导致了一种支持种族的“无种族”立场。然而，这并不能解释为什么种族社会类别在许多情况下持续存在。该项目借鉴了技术科学和医学的社会研究以及种族问题的批判理论，包括在科学家的工作场所、在科学会议上对他们进行访谈和持续观察，以及他们就数据集和实验结果的力量进行集体对话。在这个合作项目中，异质定位的研究人员需要种族（生物和社会）的标准化，以便比较结果，结合联合收割机数据集，并提出可推广的科学主张。因此，该项目调查了疾病基因携带者群体（合作企业的声明受益者）的战略生产，并超越了生物与社会种族的简单二元性。最后，对2型糖尿病流行病学（遗传和社会/环境）的研究评估了遗传科学对预防和治疗复杂疾病的重要性，并评估了生物医学遗传科学合作实践的后果。

This dissertation research project investigates a consortium of genetic scientists as they actively transform DNA labeled with historically specific folk taxonomies of race into substances with biological significance. The consortium under examination includes scientists who have formed an alliance, which is transdisciplinary, transnational, and is comprised of public and private academic, clinical, nongovernmental, biotechnological, and state funded institutions. This investigation is anchored with a subset cluster within The Consortium comprised of scientists from University of Chicago in collaboration with University of Washington, University of Texas Health Sciences, and Decode Genetics, Inc, an Icelandic biotechnology firm. As an ex-officio member of The Consortium, and by following DNA data sets through the pathways of collaborative research back to their points of origin, the researcher will investigate how DNA taken from racially marked populations is transformed into a genetic understanding of Type 2 Diabetes. The genetics of diabetes is a rich area by which to investigate the use and definition of race in biomedical research because its risk factors are said to include diet, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and membership in various racial and/or ethnic groups. The use of DNA from racially identified populations presents a challenge for medical research, however, because the genetic markers and their contributions vary between and within populations. Further, the environmental risk factors for these diseases make the isolation of genetic causes problematic. Still, the parsing of populations by race is the first stage in the genetic epidemiology of diabetes. While the historical record of the advancement of biological differences of race demonstrates brutal consequence, a summary indictment of biological race often overlooks the ways biological and social knowledge is produced. Harrison (1995) points out that the critique of the biological concept of race led to a "no race" position in favor of ethnicity. However, this does not explain why racial social categories persist in many situations. Drawing upon the social studies of technoscience and medicine as well as critical theories of race, this project consists of interviews and sustained observation of scientists in their places of work, at scientific meetings and of their collective conversations about the power of data sets and experimental results. The heterogeneously positioned researchers in this collaborative venture requires the standardization of race (biological and social) in order to compare results, combine data sets and make generalizable scientific claims. Thus, this project investigates the strategic production of disease-gene carrier-populations, (the stated beneficiaries of the collaborative enterprise), and goes beyond the simple binarisms of biological versus social race. Finally, this examination of the epidemiology (genetic and social/ environmental) of Type 2 Diabetes evaluates the emerging significance of genetic science for the prevention and cure of complex diseases and assesses the consequences of the collaborative practices of biomedical genetic science.