“‘Bio-objects’ are (new) spatio-temporal configurations to which ‘life’ is attributed”. The concept of ‘bio-object’ was the subject of the research seminar New Biosciences/New Society?: Developing the concept of ‘bio-objects’ which was organized by a network of Marie Curie fellows, and in particular by Tora Holmberg (Uppsala University), Niki Vermeulen (Maastricht University), and Sakari Tamminen (University of Helsinki). The seminar took place at the Centre for Gender research at Uppsala University in Sweden from 4-6 June 2009 and was made possible through contributions from EASST, the Swedish Research Council, and the Centre for Gender research [1]. It is part of a series of annual meetings of the Marie Curie Research Network BioStep, which emerged from the New Genetics /New Society? Integrating Science, Society and Policy Marie Curie Fellowship programme at the Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU) of the University of York, UK. BioStep stands for ‘Bio (social) science, technology, and policy’. At the same time, BioStep is a stepping stone towards new insights. The Marie-Curie Fellows are all early career researchers - some are currently finishing their PhDs, others successfully defended their PhDs within the past few years. The members of the network come from various countries including Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hungary, Estonia, Austria, Germany, the UK and Canada.

Between 2002 and 2005 fifteen young scholars from various countries and disciplines –all involved in STS research- participated in the Marie Curie programme at SATSU. On the basis of their common interest and shared experiences in York, the Marie Curie fellows, together with SATSU staff and director Andrew Webster and some additional scholars with expertise/interest in this field of study, decided to establish a network to explore common research (interests) and prepare publications. The network was established at a first meeting in York in April 2007. The second meeting, funded by the Brocher Foundation, took place in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 2008. This meeting was clustered around three themes: the changing boundaries of human, animal and society; the new forms of governance engaged in the social regulation of these boundary shifts; and the new social and cultural relations that are made possible by these changes. In trying to find common ground between the various specific areas of research, the idea of bio-objects emerged as a theme the network wanted to explore further. Therefore, the third meeting at the Centre for Gender research at Uppsala University centred around bio-objects.

‘Bio-objects’ can be defined as (new) spatio-temporal configurations to which ‘life’ is attributed. The concept covers materialities and processes that are related to ‘life’ and it offers a new approach to study how the increasing knowledge of life and its components are fundamentally transforming what life means and where its boundaries lie. During the meeting we discussed the outline of an edited-volume on the subject, as well as future research proposals. The book will use the concept of bio-object as a heuristic device to point out and start tracing the new relations that make speaking about life and living as objects possible. However, life shall not be reduced to a thing or an entity - a mute object without agency. Rather, by questioning its status as an ‘object’ of current technological innovations, we point out how life is in constant interplay with novel techniques aiming at re-routing, diversifying, collecting and commodifying the vital processes that ‘life’ consists of. Bio-objects cannot be reduced to any pure form preceding them - rather, their basis of existence is something that could be seen as a network of unstable ontologies, an ongoing process rather than a stable form of being. As such, bio-objects contest the boundary lines between entities we have accustomed to take for granted, as existing by themselves and for themselves. Thus, through the concept of bio-objects, boundaries between human and animal, organic and nonorganic, living and suspension of living, time and space, subject and object, agency and effect are questioned, destabilised and in some cases re-established. In the book a collection of empirical studies traces a variety of contemporary bio-objects in their emergence, stabilisation and circulation through a number of (European) societies, thereby showing various processes of bio-objectification. The bio-objects range from traditional to advanced configurations of life and living such as cloned animals, embryos, cybrids, genetic resources, models of life and biobanks.

In addition to our discussions, guest speakers from both Uppsala University (Dr. Isabelle Dussauge) and the University of Copenhagen (Prof. Lene Koch) presented their work. Lene gave a paper on ‘Modelling pigs and humans. Understanding human/animal connections in translational research’ and Isabelle talked about ‘Neuroimaging of human sexuality: a case in the techno-cultural framing of bio-objects’.

We would like to thank EASST, the Swedish Research Council and the Centre for Gender research for the opportunity to organise our 2009 meeting. This meeting has been important for maintaining and further establishing our network of young STS scholars: BioStep has been brought a step further. For young scholars and networks it is often difficult to get funding, even if they come out of a previously funded scheme such as the Marie Curie Fellowship Scheme funded by the European Commission. However, meetings such as the above where proposals for research and publications can be discussed are crucial for maintaining the network and fostering new ideas and in this case critical studies of the biosciences. Niki Vermeulen, one of the core members of the network, states in her recently published PhD thesis ‘Supersizing Science - On building large-scale research projects in Biology’ (2009: 208): ‘I observe that the young networks are an addition to traditional forms of education and support the ability of young scientists to interact and cross borders - skills that are becoming increasingly important in the present life sciences’. The network of Marie Curie fellows illustrates that also social scientists cross national borders as well as borders between diverse scientific and societal domains. This network is therefore an important space where new ideas and concepts, such as that of bio-object and bio-objectification, are stimulated, circulated, and ‘brought to life’.

Note

[1] This centre focuses specifically on the area of gender and science through the research programma GenNa: Nature/Culture and Transgressive Encounters which was rewarded with a centre of excellence status from the Swedish Research Council 2007-2011.

Reference

Vermeulen, N. (2009). Supersizing Science - On building large-scale research projects in Biology. Maastricht: Universitaire Pers Maastricht.