This paper brings together the history of risk and the history of DNA repair, a biological phenomenon that emerged as a research field in between molecular biology, genetics, and radiation research in the 1960s. The case of xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), an inherited hypersensitivity to UV light and, hence, a disposition to skin cancer will be the starting point to argue that, in the 1970s and 1980s, DNA repair became entangled in the creation of new models of the human body at risk – what is here conceptually referred to as the vulnerability aspect of body history – and new attempts at cancer prevention and enhancement of the body associated with the new flourishing research areas of antimutagenesis and anticarcinogenesis. The aim will be to demonstrate that DNA repair created special attempts at disease prevention: molecular enhancement, seeking to identify means to increase the self-repair abilities of the body at the molecular level. Prevention in this sense meant enhancing the body's ability to cope with the environmental hazards of an already toxic world. This strategy has recently been adopted by the beauty industry, which introduced DNA care as a new target for skin care research and anti-aging formulas.
...More
Book
Bernardino Fantini;
Fabrizio Rufo;
(2017)
Il codice della vita. Una storia della genetica tra scienza e bioetica
(/isis/citation/CBB297801530/)
Book
Olby, Robert;
(2009)
Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets
(/isis/citation/CBB001021210/)
Article
Marcum, James A.;
(2002)
From Heresy to Dogma in Accounts of Opposition to Howard Temin's DNA Provirus Hypothesis
(/isis/citation/CBB000501150/)
Chapter
Roberto Taramelli;
(2016)
Una nuova visione del cancro attraverso le lenti della dinamica dei sistemi
(/isis/citation/CBB225293248/)
Book
Michel Morange;
(2020)
The Black Box of Biology: A History of the Molecular Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB035364586/)
Article
Stefanie Samida;
(2020)
Über mediale Präsenz und Prominenz DNA-gestützter Vergangenheitsforschung
(/isis/citation/CBB693962543/)
Thesis
Barker, Crispin Robert Claude;
(2008)
From Atom Bomb to the “Genetic Time Bomb”: Telomeres, Aging, and Cancer in the Era of Molecular Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB001561394/)
Essay Review
Strauss, Bernard S.;
(2004)
Rosy and Jim: The Mystery of the Double Helix
(/isis/citation/CBB001566358/)
Article
Bueno, Otávio;
(2011)
When Physics and Biology Meet: The Nanoscale Case
(/isis/citation/CBB001024003/)
Book
Schwartz, James;
(2008)
In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA
(/isis/citation/CBB000774889/)
Article
Holliday, Robin;
(2003)
The Early Years of Molecular Biology: Personal Recollections
(/isis/citation/CBB000470292/)
Article
Lazcano, Antonio;
(2012)
The Biochemical Roots of the RNA World: from Zymonucleic Acid to Ribozymes
(/isis/citation/CBB001251465/)
Article
M. Polo Camacho;
(2020)
What’s All the Fuss About? The Inheritance of Acquired Traits Is Compatible with the Central Dogma
(/isis/citation/CBB631370808/)
Article
Enrique Wulff;
(2023)
Clinical Diagnosis and Cancer Probe: A History of Unity and Mass Migration
(/isis/citation/CBB743051605/)
Book
Ridley, Matt;
(2006)
Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code
(/isis/citation/CBB000641605/)
Chapter
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg;
(2012)
Internationalism and the History of Molecular Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB001422700/)
Article
Hall, Kersten T.;
(2011)
William Astbury and the Biological Significance of Nucleic Acids, 1938--1951
(/isis/citation/CBB001023996/)
Article
O'Malley, Maureen A.;
Elliott, Kevin C.;
Burian, Richard M.;
(2010)
From Genetic to Genomic Regulation: Iterativity in MicroRNA Research
(/isis/citation/CBB001023979/)
Book
Holmes, Frederic Lawrence;
(2001)
Meselson, Stahl, and the Replication of DNA: A history of “the most beautiful experiment in biology”
(/isis/citation/CBB000101407/)
Thesis
Valerie Racine;
(2016)
Beyond Reductionism and Emergence: A Study of the Epistemic Practices in Gene Expression Research
(/isis/citation/CBB978842577/)
Be the first to comment!