Dissertation Research: Sequencing Genomes and Transforming Society: An Anthropological Study of a Genome Center in China

DNA克隆和测序技术的发明不仅带来了生物学本身的革命，而且使生物技术有可能成为全球资本主义的下一波浪潮。为了从发展中国家的角度提供跨国基因组学的观点，本科技研究论文研究项目重点关注中国基因组中心——北京华大基因研究所（BGI）的发展。研究设计包括两个阶段的研究。第一阶段的重点是机构和国家一级，已经完成，并以2002年在BGI进行的10个月的实地工作为基础。第二阶段由这笔资金支持，重点放在国际层面，将包括对华大基因的后续访问、档案研究、参加国际基因组学会议，以及访问英国和美国的几个基因组中心。华大基因和其他基因组中心一样，是这场生物革命的纽带。华大基因之所以意义重大，是因为它不遵循中国政府计划科学的规范，它推动了政府、学术界和产业界之间的新联系。为了参与人类基因组计划，华大基因是由几位海外归国的中国科学家而不是中国政府成立的。第一阶段的研究已经产生了一些关于华大基因结构的重要发现。第二阶段的研究将解决以下比较问题，将本地和国际背景联系起来：是什么因素促使国际财团允许华大基因。参与?考虑到中国是一个发展中国家，有政府计划的科学规范，我们如何解释华大基因与西方基因组中心之间的差异？基因组中心在生产知识、生产科学文化、生产基因和疾病概念方面的作用是什么？通过关注华大基因的创新结构，该项目将提供对后社会主义中国的新认识。中国生物技术的发展为了解一个发展中国家的现代性和科学提供了一个机会。通过将中国生物技术发展的文化和社会逻辑置于背景中，这项工作将有助于进一步比较不同社会的科学研究。此外，这项研究将有助于了解全球范围内生物医学知识生产的性质和后果，以及全球范围内的研发对技术发展中国家及其科学家意味着什么。

The inventions of DNA cloning and sequencing technique have not only brought about a revolution in biology itself, but also made it possible for biotechnology to be the next wave of global capitalism. In order to offer a view of transnational genomics from the perspective of a developing country, this Science and Technology Studies dissertation research project focuses on the development of a genome center, the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) in China. The research design contains two stages of study. The first stage, which focuses on the institutional and national level, has been completed and has based on 10 months of fieldwork conducted at BGI in 2002. The second stage, for which this funding supports, focuses on the international level and will include a follow-up visit to BGI, archival research, attendance at an international genomics conferences, and visits to several genome centers in the United Kingdom and in the United States. BGI, like other genome centers, is a nexus of this biological revolution. BGI is particularly significant because it does not follow the norm of government-planned science in China, and it has served as an impetus for a new linkage among government, academe, and industry. In order to participate in the Human Genome Project, BGI was set up by several overseas Chinese scientists returning from abroad rather than by the Chinese government. The first stage of study has yielded several important findings about the structure of BGI. The second stage of research will address the following comparative questions to link the local and the international contexts: What are the factors that prompted the international consortium to allow BGI.s participation? How can we account for the differences between BGI and the Western genome centers, given that China is a developing country and has a norm of government-planned science? What are the roles of genome centers in terms of production of knowledge, production of scientific culture, and production of concepts of genes and diseases? By focusing on the innovative structure of BGI, this project will provide new understanding of post-socialist China. China's development of biotechnology provides an opportunity to understand modernity and science in a developing country. By contextualizing the cultural and social logic within the development of biotechnology in China, this work will facilitate further comparative studies of science in different societies. In addition, this study will help to understand the nature and consequences of the production of biomedical knowledge on a global scale, and what the global scale of Research & Development means for a technologically developing country and its scientists.