Jon_C_memo_26

Is it bad practice to copy the first few sentences of an abstract that frame my research?

This abstract is a direct copy of one that was submitted and presented at AAA in 2007, authored by Ron and I...

EPIGENETICS: HOW TO BE AN ANTI-BIOLOGICAL DETERMINIST IN THE AGE OF SOFT INHERITANCE.

Epigenetics is the study of inheritance outside the central dogma of molecular genetics (DNA->RNA->Protein). Epigenetic transmission through germ (reproductive) cells is sometimes referred to as “soft inheritance,” which alludes to its biochemical, as well as its ideological, flexibility. Our primary example and the most understood form of this type of inheritance is DNA methylation (the temporary "marking" of base pairs on a chromosome). As evidence for this and other new forms of soft inheritance steadily mounts, our framing of opposition to genetic determinism - the classic anthropological stance against racism, sexism, and other hereditarian claims - may need to be altered. Noting the problematic nature of the social constructivist stance, we recommend instead a modified version of the anti-genetic determinist framework originally proposed by Gould, Lewontin, and others. We then examine how this anti-biological determinist framework holds up in the face of soft inheritance, using theoretical models as well as discourse analysis of professional and popular publications, and possibilities for revision in light of this new view of heredity.

This abstract is a direct copy of one that I submitted and presented at the Graduate Student Conference in 2009 at MIT...

DARWIN MUST DIE

Epigenetics is the study of inheritance outside the central dogma of molecular genetics (DNA->RNA->Protein), where "a gene is a gene is a gene." Epigenetic transmission through germ (reproductive) cells is sometimes referred to as “soft inheritance,” which alludes to its biochemical, as well as its ideological, flexibility. The primary example and the most understood form of this type of inheritance is DNA methylation (the temporary "marking" of base pairs on a chromosome). Recently, epigenetics has begun to undercut this central dogma, along with its genetic determinist consequences, by promoting the idea that "some genes are more equal than others," based on their epigenetic imprinting. This paper intends to look at the ways in which models of human genetic disease development and treatment, specifically certain kinds of cancers known as myelodysplastic syndromes, are modified by new understandings of how epigenetic inheritance influences their expression. Not only does this allow us to observe a nature/nurture debate unfolding, but it also presents the opportunity for us to learn about how once scientifically marginalized theories of inheritance (e.g. Lamarckian evolution) are being used as a metaphor to stretch out a zone for this new kind of research in mainstream scientific theory and practice.

This abstract is original for this assignment...

Testing the Testing System: Epigenetics and the Development of a Scientific Theory

Epigenetics is the study of inheritance outside the central dogma of molecular genetics (DNA->RNA->Protein). Epigenetic transmission through germ (reproductive) cells is sometimes referred to as “soft inheritance,” which alludes to its biochemical, as well as its ideological, flexibility. The primary example and the most understood form of this type of inheritance is DNA methylation (the temporary "marking" of base pairs on a chromosome). With the discovery of the Agouti gene and its epigenetic markings, the field of epigenetics shows what Hans-Jorg Rheinberger calls the "experimental system." What this paper will accomplish is to analyze the state of the field of epigenetics, and experiment on Rheinberger's theory of scientific action through alternation between the two following experimental states. His work suggests that there are two subtly interconnected and co-constucted "modes" of scientific practice: the experimental system and the testing system. The former is a type of scientific research system that can produce new knowledge in the form of yet-to-be-explained "surprises" that cause shifts in the way that scientists view their object of study. The latter is related to the former, but it does not create new kinds of knowledge; it can only confirm what is being tested. However, as stated, these two systems are deeply interconnected, and an experimental system can quickly shift to a testing system, and vice versa. With the discovery of the Agouti gene, a gene that codes for a specific and obvious phenotype in mice, epigenetic scientists have effectively created a testing system that can, and has, been used to examine the effects of many kinds of chemicals on the epigenome.

There's one more abstract coming, most likely about expertise...