GES Center Lectures, NC State University By cover art

GES Center Lectures, NC State University

By: Genetic Engineering and Society Center NC State
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  • Summary

  • The Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at NC State University hosts a weekly speakers colloquium, plus periodic public lectures. Topics include agricultural biotechnology, synthetic biology (SynBio), DIYbio, gene editing, gene drives, governance & responsible innovation, public engagement, sci-art, and integrated pest management, to name a few. Learn more at go.ncsu.edu/ges and sign up for our newsletter at http://eepurl.com/c-PD_T.
    Copyright 2024
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Episodes
  • #10 – Barbara Herr Harthorn – Societal and ethical implications of synthetic cells

    #10 – Barbara Herr Harthorn – Societal and ethical implications of synthetic cells
    Apr 16 2024
    Final GES Colloquium podcast of Spring 2024 Investigating the societal and ethical implications of synthetic cells Barbara Herr Harthorn, PhD, Research Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara Profile | DOWNLOAD SEMINAR POSTER This talk introduces 3 ongoing NSF-funded collaborative interdisciplinary projects investigating US public and expert views on bottom-up synthetic cells using a responsible research and innovation framework. Abstract Based on three collaborative interdisciplinary research projects on bottom synthetic cells in development in the US on which she is PI, this paper presents an overview of findings on diverse publics’ perceptions of the benefits and risks of new syn cells and some of the main drivers of these views. The research uses a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodological toolkit based on semi-structured interviews, a large representative national survey, and public deliberations. Professor Harthorn examines the range and nuances of public views on these in-the-making science and engineering innovations and promises of enchanted futures, evolution-defying bioengineered life, and economic benefits. In spite of enduring techno-optimism, U.S. publics’ concerns center on the role of such technologies in accelerating economic and social inequalities and injustice. The project also explores public perceived boundaries between living/nonliving, perceived characteristics of life, and other factors that differentiate syn cell perceptions from those of other emerging technologies. The implications of these findings for technological governance and participatory democracy will be discussed. Speaker Bio Barbara Herr Harthorn is Professor Emerita and Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is a medical, cultural, and psychological anthropologist whose research for the past 2 decades has focused on risk perception and public deliberation on societal and ethical aspects of new technologies, including nanotechnologies, fracking, and, currently, synthetic biology/synthetic cells. She served as founding Director and PI of the NSF national center, NSEC: Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the University of California at Santa Barbara (CNS-UCSB) from 2005-2017. In the CNS, she led international, interdisciplinary teams using mixed social science research methods to study risk and benefit perception regarding new technologies among experts and lay publics in the US and abroad. Since 2019, she has been conducting research on public and expert perceptions of synthetic biology and bottom-up synthetic cells within a responsible research and innovation framework. Dr. Harthorn’s publications include The Social Life of Nanotechnology (2012, Routledge, with John Mohr) and Risk, Culture & Health Inequality: Shifting Perceptions of Danger and Blame (2003, Greenwood/Praeger, with Laury Oaks) and numerous chapters, reports, and articles in risk analysis, social science, science and technology studies, science policy, environmental science, and nanoscience journals. She has given invited expert testimony on science in society issues to the US Congressional National Nanotechnology Caucus, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), the NAS, the US National Nanotechnology Initiative, the US Multi-Agency group on Synthetic Biology, and the European Commission, among many others. Her past work included over a decade of research on Latina/o farmworker health and risk perceptions in California. She is an elected Fellow of the American Anthropological Association, the Society for Applied Anthropology, and the AAAS. GES Colloquium is jointly taught by Drs. Jen Baltzegar and Dawn Rodriguez-Ward, who you may contact with any class-specific questions. The Podcast is produced by Patti Mulligan. Colloquium will be held in person in the 1911 Building, room 129, and live-streamed via Zoom. Please subscribe to the GES newsletter and LinkedIn for updates. Genetic Engineering and Society Center Colloquium Home | Zoom Registration | Watch Colloquium Videos | LinkedIn | Newsletter GES Center at NC State University—Integrating scientific knowledge & diverse public values in shaping the futures of biotechnology. Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co
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    59 mins
  • #9 – Eric Hallerman – Gene Technology in Aquaculture

    #9 – Eric Hallerman – Gene Technology in Aquaculture
    Apr 9 2024
    Gene technology in aquaculture: Potential, constraints, and first products to commercialization Eric Hallerman, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech University While aquaculture biotechnology has the potential to improve the sustainability of aquaculture, its realization will depend upon enabling public policy. Download seminar poster Abstract Aquaculture products are important to human nutrition, especially in developing countries. To meet growing global demand, aquaculture must improve production systems and farmed stocks, the latter using both selective breeding and gene technology. Fishes are excellent systems for gene technology, and numerous transgenic and gene-edited lines have been developed. While there has been considerable R&D, there has been little penetration of the marketplace. The reasons for this will be considered, with a case study focusing on the development and regulatory oversight of the AquAdvantage Atlantic salmon, the first genetically modified animal approved for use as food globally. Two gene-edited marine fishes have been approved for sale in Japan. Will other animal products of gene technology be approved? To realize the benefits of animal biotechnology, we will need not just innovation, but also enabling regulation creating a pathway to the market, and engagement with the private and NGO sectors and the public. Related links: Heritable Genetic Modification in Food Animals, NASEMSAAA Animal Biotechnology Resources: https://www.isaaa.org/kc/proceedings/animalbiotechnologyHallerman, E., J. Bredlau, L.S. Camargo, et al. 2024. Enabling regulatory policy globally will promote realization of the potential of animal biotechnology. CABI Agriculture and Life Sciences, 5: 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43170-024-00221-6. PDF Speaker Bio Eric Hallerman is a recently retired Professor of Fish Conservation at Virginia Tech University and is currently serving as the Chair of the ad hoc committee appointed by the National Academies to explore heritable genetic modifications of food animals. His research has included conservation genetics of fishes and mollusks, aquaculture genetics, and aquaculture biotechnology and policy. He has done research on gene transfer in fish, effective confinement of aquaculture species, ecological risk assessment for genetically modified fish, and related public policies. He has done such work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and several NGOs. He has served on several committees of the National Academy of Sciences with mandates in these areas and organized several international workshops on animal biotechnology policy. GES Colloquium is jointly taught by Drs. Jen Baltzegar and Dawn Rodriguez-Ward, who you may contact with any class-specific questions. The Podcast is produced by Patti Mulligan. Colloquium will be held in person in the 1911 Building, room 129, and live-streamed via Zoom. Please subscribe to the GES newsletter and LinkedIn for updates. Genetic Engineering and Society Center Colloquium Home | Zoom Registration | Watch Colloquium Videos | LinkedIn | Newsletter GES Center at NC State University—Integrating scientific knowledge & diverse public values in shaping the futures of biotechnology. Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co
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    1 hr
  • #8 – Steve Heine – Essentialism and Distortion in Eugenics and GMO Attitudes

    #8 – Steve Heine – Essentialism and Distortion in Eugenics and GMO Attitudes
    Apr 2 2024
    How essences distort our understanding of genes: Implications for eugenics and GMO attitudes

    Steven Heine, PhD, Professor of Cultural & Social Psychology, University of British Columbia

    Profile | @StevenHeine4 How psychological biases of essentialism distort the ways people understand genetics, eugenics, and GMO products.

    Download seminar poster
    Abstract

    People the world over are essentialist thinkers – they are attracted to the idea that hidden essences make things as they are. And because genetic concepts remind people of essences, they tend to think of genes in ways similar to essences. That is, people tend to think about genetic causes as immutable, deterministic, natural, and they create homogenous and discrete groups. I will discuss the results of a number of psychological experiments that reveals how people’s essentialist biases distort the way that they understand genetic causes. In particular, I’ll discuss the relationships between essentialist thinking, eugenic beliefs, and attitudes towards GMO products.

    Related links:

    • DNA Is Not Destiny: The Remarkable, Completely Misunderstood Relationship between You and Your Genes, Steven Heine
    Speaker Bio

    Steven J. Heine is a Professor of Social and Cultural Psychology and a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. After receiving his PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1996, he had visiting positions at Kyoto University and Tokyo University, and was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania before returning to British Columbia. Heine has published several dozen journal articles in such periodicals as Science, Nature, and Behavioral and Brain Sciences He has authored the best-selling textbook in its field, entitled “Cultural Psychology,” and has written a trade book called “DNA is not Destiny.” Heine has received numerous international awards and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

    Heine’s research focuses on a few topics that converge on how people come to understand themselves and their worlds. One of his main projects, which is the topic of his presentation, focuses on genetic essentialism, which explores how people make sense of genetic ideas. Quite typically, people have an overly fatalistic understanding about how genes influence their lives. For example, he finds that when people learn that genes relate to their risk for obesity they subsequently tend to eat more junk food, as they feel that their weight is beyond their control. He has explored how people’s essentialist views of genetics affects their support for eugenics and GMO products.

    GES Colloquium is jointly taught by Drs. Jen Baltzegar and Dawn Rodriguez-Ward, who you may contact with any class-specific questions. The Podcast is produced by Patti Mulligan. Colloquium will be held in person in the 1911 Building, room 129, and live-streamed via Zoom.

    Please subscribe to the GES newsletter and LinkedIn for updates.

    Genetic Engineering and Society Center

    Colloquium Home | Zoom Registration | Watch Colloquium Videos | LinkedIn | Newsletter

    GES Center at NC State University—Integrating scientific knowledge & diverse public values in shaping the futures of biotechnology.

    Find out more at https://ges-center-lectures-ncsu.pinecast.co
    Show more Show less
    59 mins
Education Social Sciences Natural History
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