Science autobiography Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine: An International Journal

published their landmark article on CRISPR/ Cas9. Five years later, Doudna published an autobiographical retrospective to come to terms with the "tsunami" of events that followed. The subtitle suggests that humans had acquired "unthinkable power" to refurbish life and deflect the course of evolution. Yet the subtitle of the prologue suggests a different view of human agency, seeing CRISPR as a technological pandemic, stressing our powerlessness to develop ethical and governance tools to contain the process. We seem overwhelmed by a surging biotechnological event. Science autobiographies constitute a fascinating genre, providing a window into the context of discovery, revealing what often remains unsaid in more formal academic publications. But they describe events from a decidedly personal and partisan perspective, wavering between self-analysis and self-justification, putting the individual frontstage, obfuscating how research is a collective endeavor. Doudna's memoir is analyzed from three perspectives: knowledge (CRISPR as a shift from reading to reediting genomes), power (memoirs as instruments in controversies over IPR), and ethics. Normative challenges allow researchers to constitute themselves as responsible subjects by developing new skills (bioethical deliberation) while calling forth new practices of the Self (writing science autobiographies). While traditional narrative suggests that, after an increase in dramatic tension, a period of equilibrium sets in, Doudna's retrospective voices the unsettling concern that we may lose control over the disruptive deflection we helped to bring about.

2024

CRISPR technology can drastically speed up the pace of genetic experimentation and could possibly eliminate many hereditary diseases from bloodlines. CRISPR was discovered only by chance in microbes; experimenters eventually managed to apply the technique to mammalian genes. However, CRISPR is still very much underdeveloped, as in many areas it lacks in precision and efficiency. For humans, the main application of CRISPR is to eliminate hereditary disease, but it has also stimulated the urge for the bête noire of creating genetically modified children, called designer babies. The idea of designer babies is controversial, as to some, the genetic modification of humans is ethically very troubling. The majority of scientists believe that there needs to be a moratorium on the generation of genetically modified babies, but there are a select few with the exact opposite view. Majority of scientists insist that we cannot stop the advancement of contemporary technology and must go full force ahead. This paper attempts to trace the emergence of CRISPR and its potential utility for addressing human disease alongside its deficiencies and the ethical problems of designer babies. Lastly, recommendations are made to expedite CRISPR related future research and utilizing the technology for the benefit of generations to come.

2024, Current Biology

Like all good memoirs it has not been emasculated by considerations of good taste." That was Peter Medawar's verdict on The Double Helix, Jim Watson's ebullient succès de scandale. Watson's exuberant style, let it be said right away, is not Maurice Wilkins's. He and Francis Crick were outraged by Watson's account-now a modern classic, at number seven in the American Modern Library's roll of the most important books of the twentieth century-and tried their best to prevent its publication. In 1989 Crick came out with his own reflections, and, in between and subsequently, the story of DNA has been told and retold by historians, by journalists and by scientists in books and articles without number. Rosalind Franklin, Wilkins's uncongenial colleague at King's College in London, was increasingly depicted, especially by a strident galère of rampant feminists, as the tragic (for she died at the age of 37) and wronged heroine, traduced and shamelessly robbed of credit for her work on DNA. The chief villain, according to a deplorable biography by Anne Sayre, a novelist and friend of Rosalind Franklin's, was Maurice Wilkins and it has taken Brenda Maddox's luminous life of Franklin (The Dark Lady of DNA) to restore some balance. Throughout all the uproar Maurice Wilkins has kept his peace, and only now, in his mideighties, has he set down his own story. Francis Crick has related that when searching for a job after the Second World War, he consulted the physicist Harrie Massey for advice. Massey suggested a visit to Wilkins, then already ensconced at King's. As Crick recalls, "Massey

2023, New Genetics and Society

Genome editing enables very accurate alterations to DNA. It promises profound and potentially disruptive changes in healthcare, agriculture, industry, and the environment. This paper presents a multidisciplinary analysis of the contemporary development of genome editing and the tension between continuity and change. It draws on the idea that actors involved in innovation are guided by "sociotechnical regimes" composed of practices, institutions, norms, and cultural beliefs. The analysis focuses on how genome editing is emerging in different domains and whether this marks continuity or disruption of the established biotechnology regime. In conclusion, it will be argued that genome editing is best understood as a technology platform that is being powerfully shaped by this existing regime but is starting to disrupt the governance of biotechnology. In the longer term is it set to converge with other powerful technology platforms, which together will fundamentally transform the capacity to engineer life.

2023, International Journal of Scientific Research and Management

CRISPR technology can drastically speed up the pace of genetic experimentation and could possibly eliminate many hereditary diseases from bloodlines. CRISPR was discovered only by chance in microbes; experimenters eventually managed to apply the technique to mammalian genes. However, CRISPR is still very much underdeveloped, as in many areas it lacks in precision and efficiency. For humans, the main application of CRISPR is to eliminate hereditary disease, but it has also stimulated the urge for the bête noire of creating genetically modified children, called designer babies. The idea of designer babies is controversial, as to some, the genetic modification of humans is ethically very troubling. The majority of scientists believe that there needs to be a moratorium on the generation of genetically modified babies, but there are a select few with the exact opposite view. The majority of scientists insist that we cannot stop the advancement of contemporary technology and must go full ...

2023, New Genetics and Society

2022, "Autobiografia. Literatura-Kultura-Media"

The author investigates the sources of thinking which leads to opposing the theoretical and the
autobiographical or literary texts written by the scholars. Citing selected examples of the contemporary autobiographies of Polish academics, he outlines the intimate history of the humanities’
concept, based on the broad utilization of autobiographical texts when considering the whole
work of each scholar. The main goal of this project is to supplement the history of humanities
with the personal perspective of female and male researchers.

2022, New Genetics and Society

2022, Life Sciences, Society and Policy

In 2015, a group of 18 scientists and bioethicists published an editorial in Science calling for "open discourse on the use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to manipulate the human genome" and recommending that steps be taken to strongly discourage "any attempts at germline genome modification" in humans with this powerful new technology. Press reports compared the essay to a letter written by Paul Berg and 10 other scientists in 1974, also published in Science, calling for a voluntary deferral of certain types of recombinant DNA experimentation. A rhetorical analysis of the metaphors in these two documents, and in the summary statements that came out of the respective National Academy of Sciences conferences they instigated, shows that while they have a lot in common, they are different in at least one important way. The more recent texts deploy conceptual metaphors that portray the biotechnology in question as an autonomous agent, subtly suggesting an inevitability to its development, in contrast to the earlier texts, which portray the scientists who are using the technology as the primary agents who take action. Rhetorical moves depicting biotechnology as an agent in the 2015 texts hint at contemporary skepticism about whether humans can restrain the forward momentum of science and technology in a global context, thus inhibiting scientists from imagining a consequential role for themselves in shaping the future of responsible research.

2022, Genomics, Society and Policy

2022, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences

In 2003, biophysicist and Nobel Laureate Maurice Wilkins published his autobiography entitled The Third Man. In the preface, he diffidently points out that the title (which presents him as the 'third' man credited with the co-discovery of the structure of DNA, besides Watson and Crick) was chosen by his publisher, as a reference to the famous 1949 movie no doubt, featuring Orson Welles in his classical role as penicillin racketeer Harry Lime. In this paper I intend to show that there is much more to this title than merely its familiar ring. If subjected to a (psychoanalytically inspired) comparative analysis, multiple correspondences between movie and memoirs can be brought to the fore. Taken together, these documents shed an intriguing light on the vicissitudes of budding life sciences research during the postwar era. I will focus my comparative analysis on issues still relevant today, such as dual use, the handling of sensitive scientific information (in a moral setting defined by the tension between collaboration and competition) and, finally, on the interwovenness of science and warfare (i.e. the 'militarisation' of research and the relationship between beauty and destruction). Thus, I will explain how science autobiographies on the one hand and genres of the imagination (such as novels and movies) on the other may deepen our comprehension of tensions and dilemmas of life sciences research then and now. For that reason, science autobiographies can provide valuable input (case material) for teaching philosophy and history of science to science students.

2022, New Genetics and Society

2021, Nature

T he prospect of a memoir from Jennifer Doudna, a key player in the CRISPR story, quickens the pulse. And A Crack in Creation does indeed deliver a welcome perspective on the revolutionary genome-editing technique that puts the power of evolution into human hands, with many anecdotes and details that only those close to her may have known. Yet it does not provide the probing introspection, the nuanced ethical analysis, the moral counterpoint that we CRISPR junkies crave. After the race for discovery comes the battle for control of the discovery narrative. The stakes for the CRISPR-Cas system are extraordinarily high.

2021, Poroi

The nucleic acid DNA, which contains an organism's genetic information, consists of a four-letter alphabet that has until recently been characterized as a read-only text. The development of a quick, inexpensive DNA targeting and manipulation technique called CRISPR, pronounced "crisper," though, has changed DNA from this arhetorical, read-only data set, as it has been characterized in the rhetoric literature to date, to a fully rhetorical text-one that can be not only read but created, interpreted, copied, altered, and stored as well. The Book of Nature, an idea with roots in antiquity but popularized during the nineteenth century, provides proof of concept in the form of an historical and theoretical context in which DNA can be viewed in this light. Once ensconced in the Book of Nature, DNA can no longer be considered a code; rather, it is a text. DNA text has structural components that are similar to those of traditional text, and now, with CRISPR, it also has purposes, audiences, and stakeholders. Given the enormous potential of DNA text for both good and ill, rhetoricians of science and medicine must participate in discussions of the complex literacy, policy, and ethics issues this new form of text brings about.

2019, Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine: An International Journal, 10 (forthcoming). DOI:

In 2012, Jennifer Doudna et al published their landmark paper on CRISPR-Cas9. Five years later, Doudna published an autobiographical retrospect to come to terms with the "tsunami" of events that followed. The subtitle suggests that humans acquired "unthinkable power" to refurbish life and deflect the course of evolution. Yet, the subtitle of the prologue suggests a different view on human agency, seeing CRISPR as a technological pandemic, stressing our powerlessness to develop ethical and governance tools to contain the process. We seem overwhelmed by a surging biotechnological event. Science autobiographies constitute a fascinating genre, providing a window into the context of discovery, revealing what often remains unsaid in more formal academic publications. But they describe events from a decidedly personal and partisan perspective, wavering between self-analysis and self-justification, putting the individual frontstage, obfuscating how research is a collective endeavour. Doudna's memoirs are analysed from three perspectives: the knowledge perspective (CRISPR as a shift from reading to re-editing genomes), the power perspective (memoirs as instruments in controversies over IPR) and the ethical perspective. Normative challenges allow researchers to constitute themselves as responsible subjects, by developing new skills (bioethical deliberation), while calling forth new practices of the Self (writing science autobiographies). While traditional narrative suggests that, after an increase in dramatic tension, a period of equilibrium sets in, Doudna's retrospect voices the unsettling concern that we may lose control over the disruptive deflection we helped to bring about. 2

2019

A brief discussion of the theme of moral ambiguity in Carol Reed's classic film *The Third Man* (1949), for a conference presentation in 2015. (Contains spoilers.)

2018, Autobiografía de Xavier Gamboa Villafranca. Teoría y praxis en su obraje público.

El documento es una autobiografía descriptiva paradigmático-unidimensional aperiódica. Es unidimensional, por cuanto el autor presenta su propia historia de vida en torno a un unico componente: el conjunto de indicadores de su actuar... more

2018, In: Daniël Boomsma (red.) Over medische ethiek gesproken: Bespiegelingen op leven, levenseinde en zorg. Den Haag: Mr Hans van Mierlo Stichting.

De ontdekking van CRISPR-cas9 legt vooral de techniciteit van het leven zelf bloot: DNA analyseren, opslaan en herschrijven, dat deden levende organismen zelf al heel erg lang voordat wij deze technieken onder de knie begonnen te krijgen. Dat wij vanaf nu heel doelgericht onze genen en die van andere organismen kunnen veranderen, verschaft wetenschappers desondanks ongekende precisiemacht over het menselijke genoom. Dit vraagt om bedachtzaamheid en bezinning op een even fascinerende als bedenkelijke technologie.

2016

My first undergraduate essay, written at DeMontfort University under the academic guidance of Laraine Porter.

2016, Making Science Public Blog: Posts on synbio

This is a little anthology of blog posts I have written about synthetic biology and responsible research and innovation, as well as responsible language use. Opinions expressed are my own.

2015, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences - DOI 10.1007/s40656-015-0080-z

In 2003, biophysicist and Nobel Laureate Maurice Wilkins published his autobiography entitled The Third Man. In the preface, he diffidently points out that the title (which presents him as the ‘third’ man credited with the co-discovery of the structure of DNA, besides Watson and Crick) was chosen by his publisher, as a reference to the famous 1949 movie no doubt, featuring Orson Welles in his classical role as penicillin racketeer Harry Lime. In this paper I intend to show that there is much more to this title than merely its familiar ring. If subjected to a (psychoanalytically inspired) comparative analysis, multiple correspondences between movie and memoirs can be brought to the fore. Taken together, these documents shed an intriguing light on the vicissitudes of budding life sciences research during the post-war era. I will focus my comparative analysis on issues still relevant today, such as dual use, the handling of sensitive scientific information (in a moral setting defined by the tension between collaboration and competition) and, finally, on the interwovenness of science and warfare (i.e. the ‘militarisation’ of research and the relationship between beauty and destruction). Thus, I will explain how science autobiographies on the one hand and genres of the imagination (such as novels and movies) on the other may deepen our comprehension of tensions and dilemmas of life sciences research then and now. For that reason, science autobiographies can provide valuable input (case material) for teaching philosophy and history of science to science students.

2015

Francis Collins
Director of the National Institutes of Health
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 7, 2009
President
Barack Obama
Preceded by
Raynard Kington (Acting)
Personal details
Born
Francis Sellers Collins
April 14, 1950 (age 65)
Staunton, Virginia, U.S.
Political party
Democratic
Spouse(s)
Diane Baker
Alma mater
University of Virginia
Yale University
University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill
Religion
Evangelical Christian

2014

2011

Francis Collins was appointed Director of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in 1993, and in 2009, President Barack Obama nominated him as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest funding agency for biomedical research in the world. In 2006, Collins published his book The Language of God, an autobiographical account of the HGP. Now, by way of a sequel, we have The Language of Life. The new book, as indicated by its subtitle, is oriented towards “the revolution in personalized medicine”, the impact of the genomics revolution on the personal lives of individuals.

2011

The gala televised Human Genome Project press conference on 26 June 2000, involving President Bill Clinton as well as the main competitors Francis Collins and Craig Venter as plenary speakers, was the climax of an avalanche of promissory discourse, the tremors of which are still noticeable today. Reflecting on the press conference 10 years later, the Human Genome Project (HGP) seems a glaringly self-centred endeavour, not only because it firmly positioned science at the centre of the stage (as the driving force in human history), keeping the natural and the social at a distance as it were, but also in the sense that the project was presented in an overtly anthropocentric vein. While quoting the words of Pope that “the proper study of mankind is man”, genomics seemed to display a basic predilection for human beings as its favourite model organism. The speeches presented at the event were ‘speciesist’ to a high degree in that they focused almost exclusively on human beings and human health, while possible untoward side-effects were solely formulated in terms of risks for humans.

2011

The history of the Human Genome Project has been a history of competition in various ways, not only between the publicly funded consortium lead by Francis Collins and its privately funded contender Celera lead by Craig Venter. It was also a competition between competing metaphors. One could read the history of the HGP, of which the Press Conference constituted a final apotheosis-like “scene”, as a drama in which the main protagonists, the key dramatis personae, were metaphors. On June 26 2000, metaphors more than anything else enter and exeunt the East Room stage. This article sets out to analyze this conflict or clash of metaphors, firmly embedded within the HGP as such, but culminating at the human genome Press Conference, by subjecting the verbatim account of the Press Conference to a process of close reading devoted to revealing and assessing the symbolical and imaginary structures of the text.