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(Complexity, unknown artist)| “Current practices of systems biology”
Investigator: Karen Kastenhofer WP 2 examines the epistemic practices, experimental systems and epistemic culture(s) of systems biology. It is based upon an ethnographic conception of scientific cultures and epistemic practices (cf. Pickering 1992, Rouse 1996, Knorr Cetina 1999 and Rheinberger 1997, 2006) and focuses on the micro-level – on the laboratory, on in silico practices, on integrative heuristic models and on interdisciplinary co-operation. The empirically grounded investigation (in line with Grounded Theory, cf. Strauss 1998) makes use of a combination of methods that proved feasible in recent investigations (Arnold/Fischer 2004, Böschen et al. 2006, Kastenhofer 2007, Torgersen 2009). It relies on semi-structured in-depth expert interviews with established scientists working in the field of systems biology and in related fields (-omics research and synthetic biology), visits to research laboratories and analyses of written evidence such as research papers and conference proceedings. After specifying the epistemic culture(s) of systems biology, its most important practices, heuristic systems and networks of co-operation – a preliminary list of issues is formulated, that are relevant within epistemological and socio-cultural contexts. WP2 theoretically and methodologically links up with WP1, WP5 and WP6, all of which aim at a detailed understanding of systems biology as a science. Contact: Dr.in Mag.a Karen Kastenhofer Institut für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Strohgasse 45, 1030 Wien Tel.: +43-1-51581-6580 Fax: +43-1-7109883 e-mail: kkast(at)oeaw.ac.at http://www.oeaw.ac.at/ita/kastenhofer/ |
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