Culturing Bioscience is an accessible case study that looks at the role bioscience plays both in the academy and within broader society. The book focuses on the scientific community at a biomedical facility situated on a North American university campus, offering a fascinatingglimpse into scientific culture and the social and political context in which that culture operates. Nesting the discussion of scientific culture within a series of "levels," the ethnography explores a number of topics: the social impact of technology and the way researchers interact with sophisticated equipment; what scientists actually do in a laboratory; the role science plays in the contemporary university; and the way bioscience interacts with local, regional, and global governments.
How did cells make the journey, one we take so much for granted, from their origin in living bodies to something that can be grown and manipulated on artificial media in the laboratory, a substantial biomass living outside a human body, plant, or animal? This is the question at the heart of Hannah Landecker's book. She shows how cell culture changed the way we think about such central questions of the human condition as individuality, hybridity, and even immortality and asks what it means that we can remove cells from the spatial and temporal constraints of the body and "harness them to human intention." Rather than focus on single discrete biotechnologies and their stories--embryonic stem cells, transgenic animals--Landecker documents and explores the wider genre of technique behind artificial forms of cellular life. She traces the lab culture common to all those stories, asking where it came from and what it means to our understanding of life, technology, and the increasingly blurry boundary between them. The technical culture of cells has transformed the meaning of the term "biological," as life becomes disembodied, distributed widely in space and time. Once we have a more specific grasp on how altering biology changes what it is to be biological, Landecker argues, we may be more prepared to answer the social questions that biotechnology is raising.
Over the past ten years several sophisticated in vitro test systems based on epithelial cell cultures have been introduced in the field of drug delivery. These models have been found to be very useful in characterizing the permeability of drugs across epithelial tissues, and in studying formulations or carrier systems for improved drug delivery and
Analytical Techniques in Biosciences: From Basics to Applications presents comprehensive and up-to-date information on the various analytical techniques obtainable in bioscience research laboratories across the world. This book contains chapters that discuss the basic bioanalytical protocols and sample preparation guidelines. Commonly encountered analytical techniques, their working principles, and applications were presented. Techniques, considered in this book, include centrifugation techniques, electrophoretic techniques, chromatography, titrimetry, spectrometry, and hyphenated techniques. Subsequent chapters emphasize molecular weight determination and electroanalytical techniques, biosensors, and enzyme assay protocols. Other chapters detail microbial techniques, statistical methods, computational modeling, and immunology and immunochemistry.The book draws from experts from key institutions around the globe, who have simplified the chapters in a way that will be useful to early-stage researchers as well as advanced scientists. It is also carefully structured and integrated sequentially to aid flow, consistency, and continuity. This is a must-have reference for graduate students and researchers in the field of biosciences. - Presents basic analytical protocols and sample-preparation guidelines - Details the various analytical techniques, including centrifugation, spectrometry, chromatography, and titrimetry - Describes advanced techniques such as hyphenated techniques, electroanalytical techniques, and the application of biosensors in biomedical research - Presents biostatistical tools and methods and basic computational models in biosciences
Fifty years ago, a troop of Japanese macaques was observed washing sandy sweet potatoes in a stream, sending ripples through the fields of ethology, comparative psychology, and cultural anthropology. The issue of animal culture has been hotly debated ever since. Now Kevin Laland and Bennett Galef have gathered key voices in the often rancorous debate to summarize the views along the continuum from “Culture? Of course!” to “Culture? Of course not!” The result is essential reading for anyone interested in the validity of animal culture, and what it might say about our own.
The creation and processing of visual representations in the life sciences is a critical but often overlooked aspect of scientific pedagogy. The Educated Eye follows the nineteenth-century embrace of the visible in new spectatoria, or demonstration halls, through the twentieth-century cinematic explorations of microscopic realms and simulations of surgery in virtual reality.
Science as Practice and Culture explores one of the newest and most controversial developments within the rapidly changing field of science studies: the move toward studying scientific practice—the work of doing science—and the associated move toward studying scientific culture, understood as the field of resources that practice operates in and on. Andrew Pickering has invited leading historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to prepare original essays for this volume. The essays range over the physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and are divided into two parts. In part I, the contributors map out a coherent set of perspectives on scientific practice and culture, and relate their analyses to central topics in the philosophy of science such as realism, relativism, and incommensurability. The essays in part II seek to delineate the study of science as practice in arguments across its borders with the sociology of scientific knowledge, social epistemology, and reflexive ethnography.
Standards. We apply them, uphold them, or fail to meet them. But how do they get made? Through twelve ethnographic case studies, The Social Life of Standards reveals how standards – political and technical tools for organizing society – are developed, applied, subverted, contested, and reassembled by local communities interacting with norms often created by others. Contributors explore standards at work across different countries and contexts, such as Ebola biomedical safety precautions in Senegal, Colombian farmers contesting politicized seed regulations, and the application of Indigenous standards to Canadian environmental assessments. They emphasize the uncomfortable fit between the inconsistent implementation of standards in the real world and the non-negotiable criteria presupposed by external forces. The Social Life of Standards provides support for a reflexive process that involves local engagement. Ultimately, the goal should be to reach a balance between evidence-based science and the social contexts that can inform more useful and appropriate standards.
FRESHNEY’S CULTURE OF ANIMAL CELLS THE NEW EDITION OF THE LEADING TEXT ON THE BASIC METHODOLOGY OF CELL CULTURE, FULLY UPDATED TO REFLECT NEW APPLICATIONS INCLUDING IPSCS, CRISPR, AND ORGAN-ON-CHIP TECHNOLOGIES Freshney’s Culture of Animal Cells is the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on the principles, techniques, equipment, and applications in the field of cell and tissue culture. Explaining both how to do tissue culture and why a technique is done in a particular way, this classic text covers the biology of cultured cells, how to select media and substrates, regulatory requirements, laboratory protocols, aseptic technique, experimental manipulation of animal cells, and much more. The eighth edition contains extensively revised material that reflects the latest techniques and emerging applications in cell culture, such as the use of CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing and the adoption of chemically defined conditions for stem cell culture. A brand-new chapter examines the origin and evolution of cell lines, joined by a dedicated chapter on irreproducible research, its causes, and the importance of reproducibility and good cell culture practice. Throughout the book, updated chapters and protocols cover topics including live-cell imaging, 3D culture, scale-up and automation, microfluidics, high-throughput screening, and toxicity testing. This landmark text: Provides comprehensive single-volume coverage of basic skills and protocols, specialized techniques and applications, and new and emerging developments in the field Covers every essential area of animal cell culture, including lab design, disaster and contingency planning, safety, bioethics, media preparation, primary culture, mycoplasma and authentication testing, cell line characterization and cryopreservation, training, and troubleshooting Features a wealth of new content including protocols for gene delivery, iPSC generation and culture, and tumor spheroid formation Includes an updated and expanded companion website containing figures, artwork, and supplementary protocols to download and print The eighth edition of Freshney’s Culture of Animal Cells is an indispensable volume for anyone involved in the field, including undergraduate and graduate students, clinical and biopharmaceutical researchers, bioengineers, academic research scientists, and managers, technicians, and trainees working in cell biology, molecular biology, and genetics laboratories.
