Doct Dissertation Research: Blueprints for Behavior: Constructing Experimental Systems in Behavioral Genetics

这项博士论文研究改进基金由科学与社会计划和生物科学理事会在生物与社会倡议下共同资助。行为遗传学在理解酒精中毒、自闭症和焦虑症等人类疾病的遗传学方面大有可为，但它也是一个有争议的事业，有时会被基因决定论的指控包围，并受到媒体的密切关注。在过去的15年里，操纵动物基因组的新技术导致了利用小鼠等动物研究人类精神疾病的遗传学的爆炸性增长。这项研究项目将探索建立令人信服的动物模型的一些挑战，不仅涉及理论问题和实际问题，还包括对潜在政治和社会问题的担忧。行为遗传学是一门不同的学科，具有不同科学背景的研究人员对如何使用动物来代表人类行为持有相互矛盾的观点。行为测试也是出了名的复杂；对于相同的行为存在多个测试，并且相同的测试可以以许多不同的方式执行。为了有用，这些模型和测试必须标准化，并被行为遗传学社区广泛接受。归根结底，这些模型产生的数据也必须对资助机构和公众具有说服力。通过访谈和参与者观察，这个项目试图调查标准化的实验实践是如何在实验室、科学出版物和会议等地方开发、辩论和传播的，以及结果是如何传播给公众的。这项研究有助于促进我们对研究复杂和有争议的疾病的科学家所面临的挑战的理解，以及关于什么是好的测试或良好的人类代表性的假设如何嵌入到标准化测试中并继续到以后的研究中。这项研究还有助于我们理解科学家如何在他们的研究中概念化伦理问题，并在他们的日常工作中对这些问题做出回应。

This doctoral dissertation research improvement grant is co-funded by the Science & Society program and the Directorate of Biological Sciences under the Biology & Society initiative. Behavioral genetics holds much promise for understanding the genetics of human disorders such as alcoholism, autism and anxiety, but it is also a controversial enterprise that has, at times, been surrounded by charges of genetic determinism and subjected to media scrutiny. In the past fifteen years, new techniques for manipulating animal genomes have led to an explosion of research on the genetics of human psychiatric disorders using animals such as mice. This research project will explore some of the challenges of creating convincing animal models, not only with regard to theoretical concerns and practical problems, but also in light of concerns about potential political and social issues.Behavioral genetics is a heterogeneous discipline, and researchers with different scientific backgrounds hold conflicting opinions on how animals should be used to represent human behaviors. Behavioral testing is also notoriously complex; multiple tests exist for the same behaviors, and the same test can be performed in many different ways. In order to be useful, these models and tests must be standardized and widely accepted by the behavioral genetics community. Ultimately, the data produced from these models must also be convincing to funding agencies and to the public. Using interviews and participant observation, this project seeks to investigate how standardized experimental practices are developed, debated and circulated in places such as laboratories, scientific publications and conferences, and how results are disseminated to the public.This study stands to advance our understanding of the challenges faced by scientists studying complex and controversial disorders, and how assumptions about what constitutes a good test or a good representation of the human are embedded into standardized tests and carried forward into later research. This study also can contribute to our understanding of how scientists conceptualize ethical issues in their research and respond to them in their day-to-day work.