Value for Money? Cooperation and Competition in the Human Genome Mapping Project

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Kärin Nickelsen
• Subject Area: History of Science
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 316001474

The Human Genome Project (HGP) for mapping and sequencing the human genome is paradigmatic for the sea change in the life sciences of the late 20th century into a both cooperative and competitive field of research in close interaction with political and economical interests. The project focusses on the relatively unknown, but highly relevant genome research in the UK. In the first funding period the project dealt with the negotiation of cooperative practices and conventions within the HGP against the backdrop of mounting competition. We focused on the group around John Sulston (Cambridge/Hinxton), its transatlantic cooperation, and the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO). In this second period we turn our gaze towards the British Human Genome Mapping Project (HGMP), a coordinated network which was closely linked to the HGP. John Sulston played a major role there too, however, the leading force behind the HGMP was Sydney Brenner. The project examines how far Brenner and others succeeded in establishing a cooperatively coordinated research network in the face of scientific rivalry between research groups and sites and how economic, political and social factors impacted this balance and in turn, epistemic goals and priorities. As the research system of the United Kingdon was thoroughly restructured in the 1980s/90s, this can be observed especially vividly. Our project analyses the resulting dynamic on the micro and meso level of the network.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2553: Cooperation and Competition in the Sciences