Projects per year
Abstract
This paper presents a collaboration between social scientists and a chemist exploring the promises for new therapy development at the intersection between synthetic biology and nanotechnology. Drawing from ethnographic studies of laboratories and a recorded discussion between the three authors, we interrogate the metaphors that underpin what Mackenzie (Futures 48:5-12 2013) has identified as a recursive relationship in the iconography of the life sciences and its infrastructure. Focusing specifically on the use of gene editing techniques in synthetic biology and bio-nanotechnology, we focus our analysis on the key metaphors of 'evolutionary life as hodge-podge' within which 'cutting' of DNA and the 'sticking' and 'binding' of engineered particles to proteins can be performed by researchers in laboratory settings. Taken together, we argue that these metaphors are consequential for understanding metaphors of life-as-machine and the prevalence of notions of 'engineering life'. Exploring the ways in which notions of cutting, targeting and life as an evolutionary hodgepodge prefigure a more contingent notion of engineering and synthesis we close by considering the interpretive implications for ethnomethodological approaches to contemporary life science research.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 22 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Life Sciences, Society and Policy |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 17 Sept 2018 |
Projects
- 1 Finished
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ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology
Davis, T., Boyd, B., Bunnett, N., Porter, C., Caruso, F., Kent, S., Thordarson, P., Kearnes, M., Gooding, J., Kavallaris, M., Thurecht, K., Whittaker, A. K., Parton, R., Corrie, S. R., Johnston, A., McGhee, J., Greguric, I. D., Stevens, M. M., Lewis, J. S., Lee, D. S., Alexander, C., Dawson, K., Hawker, C., Haddleton, D., Thierry, B., Prestidge, C. A., Meyer, A., Jones-Jayasinghe, N., Voelcker, N., Nann, T. & McLean, K.
Australian Research Council (ARC), Monash University, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales (UNSW), University of Queensland , University of South Australia, Monash University – Internal Faculty Contribution, University of Wisconsin Madison, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of California System, University College Dublin, Imperial College London, University of Warwick, Sungkyunkwan University, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) , University of Nottingham
30/06/14 → 29/06/21
Project: Research