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The High Road to the Human Genome

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The High Road to the Human Genome A ccomplishing S e q u e n c in g t h e H u m a n G e n o m e Andrew Bartlett Submitted to Cardiff University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2008 i UMI Number: U584600 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U584600 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 D e c l a r a t io n This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ..... y . .........(candidate) Date .............. STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. S igned /. JjTU..../...... .J.........(cand idate) Date........... STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed KJ. ) .... (candidate) Date............ .?. .4?.. ■ STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. (candidate) A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s Thanks first must go the research participants at the Institute, whose time and patience were necessary ingredients in the production of this thesis. Thanks to Anna Bartlett, who not only moved to Cardiff and became my wife in the course of this study, but who proofread the draft of this thesis and helped produce diagrams where my own skills were limited. Thanks to David Mellor, who offered advice and, more importantly, invaluable encouragement; Mark Connolly, who was at times landlord, roadtrip companion and proofreader; Mike Roberts, who had the ability to polish my diagrams; and Jamie Lewis, who travelled the same path over the past four years. Thanks must also go to Peter Glasner and Ruth McNally, my supervisors at the ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (Cesagen), and to Mel Evans, who ensures that things happen despite my organisational abilities. Michael Arribas-Ayllon and Katie Featherstone, my Cesagen colleagues in research, deserve thanks for reading chapters and granting me the space and time to produce a completed thesis. In the Cardiff School of Social Science (SOCSI), thanks go to Liz Renton, who has the patience to ensure that I negotiate the necessary bureaucratic hurdles. SOCSI academic staff also offered criticism, encouragement and guidance; Paul Atkinson and Sara Delamont, Harry Collins and the rest of the Knowledge, Expertise and Science research group, and Theo Nichols. This research was supported by ESRC studentship PTA-042-2003-00031. S u m m a r y Modern biotechnology has been transformed from a largely academic pursuit to a multi billion-dollar commercial bio-industry that is seen as one of the foundations of the knowledge economy. The sequencing of the human genome is seen as one of the great achievements of contemporary science. Though narratives of the sequencing of the human genome concentrate on the leading figures, the Human Genome Project was the achievement of big science. Big science represents the transformation of scientific work from a craft-based adhocracy into a form of work conducted within bureaucratic organisations that employ huge teams of scientists and technicians with a proliferation of specialised roles. This ‘industrialisation’ of science led many to describe the Human Genome Project as involving ‘production line’ efforts, ‘sequencing mills’ and an ‘Industrial Revolution’ for biology. This thesis investigates the experience of work at the Institute, a large-scale sequencing centre. Entering the ‘hidden abode’ of production, the study examines the sequence of the human genome as an achievement of labour, rather than the product of ‘great men’. Interviews were conducted with a range of people across the ‘sequencing chain of production’. The study finds that work at the Institute was quite unlike the dehumanising, alienating work that might be expected as a result of the ‘industrialisation’ of science. Rather, the work of sequencing genomes recruited the sentiments of those working at the Institute, producing committed workers. This thesis examines the generation of commitment at the Institute in comparison to ‘high road’ models of work organisation. Given the central role of the sequence of the human genome in the future of biotechnology as a key sector in the knowledge economy, the Institute is considered with regard to debates around the future of work in technologically advanced economies. Co n t e n t s Part One: Primers and Presentiments 1 [A] Primers 2 A1 Introduction 3 A2 Sequences of Metaphors 5 A3 A History of the Human Genome Project 11 A4 Genomes and Economies 27 [B] Anatomies of Big Science 35 B1 Introduction 36 B2 A Drama of Scale 38 B3 A Case Study in Big Science: LIGO 45 B4 Big Science as a Quality of Laboratory Life 49 B5 Small Science? 51 B6 Understanding Work in Big Science Projects 53 B7 Big Science and Big Biology 58 [C] Pathologies of Work in Big Science 65 Cl Introduction 66 C2 Anatomies? Pathologies? 70 C3 Big Science Structures and Rationalisation 73 C4 The Automation of Scientific Work 78 C5 Meanings of Alienation 82 C6 The Ethos of Science 86 C7The Parable of the Needle and the Haystack 93 C8 Work, Modernity, and Big Science 97 Part Two: Strategy and Method 100 [D] Case 101 D1 Introduction 102 D2 The Institute 103 D3 A Typology of Case Studies 112 D4 Case Studies in Work and Science 115 D5 Monsters and De-Monstrations 117 [E] Conduct 121 El Introduction 122 E2 Why Choose Interviews? 124 E3 The Interview: Form and Content 131 v E4 Access and Anonymity 135 E5 Evidence and Illustration 141 Part Three: Illustrating and Accounting 145 [F] The Factory and the University 146 FI Introduction 147 F2 From the University to the Factory 150 F3 The Institute as a Factory 153 F4 The Institute as a University 167 F5 Hinterlands of Work 173 [G] The Recruitment of Sentiment 181 G1 Introduction 182 G2 Exceptionalism 187 G3 The Spark of Competition 199 G4 Celebrating Work 204 G5 The Work is Flat 207 G6 Personalising the Workplace 212 G7 Collectivity and Community 218 [H] The High Road to the Human Genome 222 HI Introduction 223 H2 The High Commitment Workplace 226 H3 High Commitment at the Institute 234 H4 Convergent Evolution, Common Descent? 248 [I] Interlude: Dis-Engagement and Dis -Integration 251 11 Introduction 252 12 The Triumph of Accomplishment? 254 13 Growing Apart 257 14 Living to Work, or Working to Live? 265 15 Postscript: Resisting Recruitment 268 Part Four: Context and Conclusions 272 [J] The Institute and the Knowledge Economy 273 J1 Introduction 274 J2 From Lisbon to Erewhon 277 J3 Knowledge Work and Knowledge Workers 283 J4 The De-Monstration of the Institute 289 Bibliography 295 vi T a b l e s a n d F ig u r e s Tables Table E3.1 Interview Themes 134 Table E4.1 Interviewees at the Institute 135 Figures Figure F2.1 The Dichotomies of Work 109 Figure F5.1 A Continuum of Forms of Work 175 Figure F5.2 Views from the Hinterlands of the University and the Factory 176 P a r t O n e : P r i m e r s a n d P resentiments Part One of the thesis, Primers and Presentiments, provides the exploration of the Institute with context. What is the history of the Human Genome Project? What analogues for the Human Genome Project and the Institute can we can we find in the literature on big science? What are the effects on science and on work of organising in these kinds of ways? Chapter A, Primers, provides the layer upon which the rest of the thesis is written. The chapter describes the mythic language, the big historical narrative, and large- scale economic story of the Human Genome Project. This chapter acknowledges these as a foundation from which to explore what is missing from these stories; the everyday descriptions of work, the history of the Institute from the view of those who sequenced the human genome, and the economic story of labour, not stock markets. Chapter B, Anatomies o f Work in Big Science, explores the descriptions of work in big science that are found in the sociological literature. The different levels of ‘bigness’ are considered; that of science as a whole, that of national science, that of a scientific discipline, and that of a scientific institution. The Human Genome Project was big science in a number of these ways, but the Institute is a big science institution. The possible consequences that result from organising work in such a way are considered in Chapter C, Pathologies o f Work in Big Science. The chapter draws on sociological concepts such as rationalisation and alienation to suggest the ‘pathologies’ that might mark the experience of work in big science. 1 [A ] P r i m e r s Primers are the short pieces of DNA that are used as the initial building blocks for synthetic DNA replication.
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