Transgene

Objective 1

Producing an extensive chronological and analytical history of genomics across three species (yeast, human and pig)

The history of genomics research stretches back to the 1980s. In that decade, a journal and disciplinary identity was created, tools and methods of mapping genes were advanced, automated sequencing machines developed, and comprehensive national initiatives launched. Our project aimed to capture the transformations that genomics experienced from those early years to today.

To develop this long-term narrative, we combined traditional historical research tools – oral history interviews and archival searches – with the production of a quantitative dataset. This use of mixed methods allowed us to identify a wider range of actors, practices and ways of organising genomics than the existing literature had detailed.

This fitted with our aim of developing a history of genomics that did not reify the already well-studied race to sequence the human genome from the late-1990s to 2001. The Human Genome Project represents one, rather exceptional, form of genomics. To avoid structuring the history of genomics around that case, we investigated the history of genomics across three species: yeast, pig and human. The first two feature distinct ways in which genomics was organised and conducted by the relevant communities. For the human, we used our unique set of sources to analyse the persistence of smaller-scale modes of genomic research alongside, and occasionally intersecting with, the larger-scale practices characteristic of the Human Genome Project.

Our objective was analytical as well as chronological because we sought to say something about the nature and organisation of genomics, beyond a historical narrative of names, places and events. To that end, we developed a set of publications that explored, among other themes:

  1. The multiple dimensions of DNA sequencing.
  2. The role of non-functional markers in mapping and sequencing.
  3. The significance of genomics in the research cooperation fostered by the European Commission.
  4. Comparative approaches to genomics.
  5. The construction of innovation ecosystems.
  6. The ontological and sociological status of reference genomes.
  7. The forging of international, collaborative networks.

As an overall project outcome, we have also published an open access, book-length account of the history of genomics through Palgrave Macmillan.