LABORATORY OF MEDICAL GENETICS AT THE CROSSROADS OF SCIENCE AND THE CLINIC

Abstract

This text is devoted to the problem of relations between different modes of existence (Bruno Latour) or logics (Annmarie Mol) in the context of a research of a laboratory of medical genetics. The concepts of modes of existence and logics arise in science and technology studies (STS) in opposition to the idea of ​​regionalism, i. e. the idea that the world is an aggregate of regions (political, cultural, social, etc.) similar to a map of countries. Instead, STS representatives assume that nothing in itself is political, scientific or anything else, but only becomes such in the process of engagement or ordering (which can occur in different modes or logics). However, here arises the problem of the relationship between these modes and logics. A possible solution is the concept of exchange zones (P. Galison). The laboratory of medical genetics turns out to be such an exchange zone, where different logics interact - scientific and clinical. Science, thanks to the clinic, receives extensive data, as well as the ability to "see patients". The clinic, thanks to science, can get improved.