Biotechnology Archives | National Humanities Center

Biotechnology

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Biomedical Platforms: Realigning the Normal and the Pathological in Late-Twentieth-Century Medicine

By Peter Keating (NHC Fellow, 2000–01) Since the end of World War II, biology and medicine have merged in remarkably productive ways. In this book Peter Keating and Alberto Cambrosio analyze the transformation of medicine into biomedicine and its consequences, ranging from the recasting of hospital architecture to the redefinition of the human body, disease, … Continued

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Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech

By Sally Smith Hughes (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) In the fall of 1980, Genentech, Inc., a little-known California genetic engineering company, became the overnight darling of Wall Street, raising over $38 million in its initial public stock offering. Lacking marketed products or substantial profit, the firm nonetheless saw its share price escalate from $35 to $89 … Continued

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Toward a More Natural Science: Biology and Human Affairs

By Leon R. Kass (NHC Fellow, 1984–85) The relation between the pursuit of knowledge and the conduct of life—between science and ethics, each broadly conceived—has in recent years been greatly complicated by developments in the science of life. This book examines the ethical questions involved in prenatal screening, in vitro fertilization, artificial life forms, and … Continued