Article ID: CBB608950943

Variations on a Chip: Technologies of Difference in Human Genetics Research (2018)

unapi

Rajagopalan, Ramya (Author)
Fujimura, Joan H. (Author)


Journal of the History of Biology
Volume: 51
Issue: 4
Pages: 841-873


Publication Date: 2018
Edition Details: Part of a Series: Genomics and the Human Genome Project
Language: English

In this article we examine the history of the production of microarray technologies and their role in constructing and operationalizing views of human genetic difference in contemporary genomics. Rather than the "turn to difference" emerging as a post-Human Genome Project (HGP) phenomenon, interest in individual and group differences was a central, motivating concept in human genetics throughout the twentieth century. This interest was entwined with efforts to develop polymorphic "genetic markers" for studying human traits and diseases. We trace the technological, methodological and conceptual strategies in the late twentieth century that established single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as key focal points for locating difference in the genome. By embedding SNPs in microarrays, researchers created a technology that they used to catalog and assess human genetic variation. In the process of making genetic markers and array-based technologies to track variation, scientists also made commitments to ways of describing, cataloging and "knowing" human genetic differences that refracted difference through a continental geographic lens. We show how difference came to matter in both senses of the term: difference was made salient to, and inscribed on, genetic matter(s), as a result of the decisions, assessments and choices of collaborative and hybrid research collectives in medical genomics research.

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Article Eric D. Green; Christopher R. Donohue (2018) Special Issue Editors' Introduction: "Genomics and the Human Genome Project". Journal of the History of Biology (pp. 625-629). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB608950943/

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Authors & Contributors
García-Sancho, Miguel
Chadarevian, Soraya de
Gil Viry
Casini, Silvia
Brownlee, George G.
Green, Eric D.
Concepts
Genomics
Biomedical technology
Human genetics
Data analysis
Genetics
Biotechnology
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
19th century
Places
Scotland
United States
Germany
China
Great Britain
Institutions
Human Genome Project
Cambridge. University. Laboratory of Molecular Biology
University of Aberdeen
Wellcome Trust
National Institutes of Health
Beijing Genomics Institute
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