Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology after the Genome - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0822359227 ISBN 13: 9780822359227

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2015

Synopsis

Ten years after the Human Genome Project’s completion the life sciences stand in a moment of uncertainty, transition, and contestation. The postgenomic era has seen rapid shifts in research methodology, funding, scientific labor, and disciplinary structures. Postgenomics is transforming our understanding of disease and health, our environment, and the categories of race, class, and gender. At the same time, the gene retains its centrality and power in biological and popular discourse. The contributors to Postgenomics analyze these ruptures and continuities and place them in historical, social, and political context. Postgenomics, they argue, forces a rethinking of the genome itself, and opens new territory for conversations between the social sciences, humanities, and life sciences.

Contributors. Russ Altman, Rachel A. Ankeny, Catherine Bliss, John Dupré, Michael Fortun, Evelyn Fox Keller, Sabina Leonelli, Adrian Mackenzie, Margot Moinester, Aaron Panofsky, Sarah S. Richardson, Sara Shostak, Hallam Stevens

About this title

About the Author:

Sarah S. Richardson is John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University, jointly appointed in the Department of the History of Science and the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She is the author of Sex Itself: The Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome.

Hallam Stevens is Assistant Professor of History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). He is the author of Life Out of Sequence: A Data-Driven History of Bioinformatics.

Review:

"The volume is an accessible and insightful collection of critical and informed perspectives on how technological and theoretical developments influence science and society, and how they shape the ways we think about biological systems like ourselves."  (Sara Green Metascience 2015-12-08)

"Postgenomics suggests just how many questions we may productively ask, and marks some highly fruitful lines of inquiry, as we seek to understand this new chapter in the ongoing interaction among genes, society, and ourselves." (Robin Wolfe Scheffler Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2016-06-01)

"The authors convey exceptionally well the character of postgenomic science and how genomics has changed since the 1990s. . . . essential and very interesting reading for anyone interested in genomics and its recent trajectory." (Peter Wade Technology and Culture 2016-07-01)

"This book not only analyzes the impact of numerous [genome-wide association studies] but also examines emerging research areas such as epigenetics in political, social, and philosophical contexts, in so doing redefining the information ecology of the genome. Highly recommended." (S. H. Jeong Choice 2015-11-01)

"I recommend this book to all biologists and philosophers interested in an accessible overview of the effect of the genomic revolution on the biosciences. It capably discusses both the new discoveries and the technical improvements that have been made since the advent of genomics, as well as the attendant philosophical and sociological implications." (P. William Hughes Science 2015-07-31)

"This book . . . should be widely read by all who are interested in the current state and future of the genomic revolution." (Michael Yudell Social History of Medicine 2016-06-04)

"[Postgenomics] offers readers an imaginative and frequently playful way to approach the increasingly complicated question about how scientific innovation impacts society and vice versa." (Adrianna Link Journal of the History of Biology)

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0822359227
• ISBN 13: 9780822359227
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Richardson Sarah S., Stevens Hallam