ABSTRACT
The concept of molecularization, as discussed in the various papers in this volume, might be seen as having two distinct layers of meaning. First, it is a technical process, in which the complex, refractory stuff of biological reality is broken down into discrete molecular constituents, to be characterized, standardized and manipulated using various chemical and other scientific techniques. But secondly, molecularization is also a social and cultural phenomenon, evident in the emergence of a wide range of institutions committed to furthering the process of molecularization in its narrower technical sense. Of course, any such distinction between the technical and the social is ultimately misleading if we want to understand and explain the historical processes of scientific development; science is culture, even when it is at its most technical. This is amply demonstrated by the various papers collected here: the characterization and production of molecules is intimately dependent upon, and deeply implicated in, the formation of networks of collaboration and exchange of materials and techniques, both within biomedical research laboratories, and between laboratories and the various other social contexts in which such molecules are put to use.
