ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews social science contributions to the analysis of genomic platforms deployed in bio-clinical activities. It focuses on so-called next generation sequencing technologies used for analyzing pathological material such as cancerous tissue, examining the manifold practices, institutions, and databases that make the interpretation and use of the ensuing results possible. Social scientists have examined early developments in genomic medicine, especially regarding BRCA and hereditary susceptibility to cancer. This regime of genomic medicine produces different kinds of evidence and uncertainty than do genomic methods in the fields of hereditary cancer and medical genetics. Clinical judgment has long been deployed in a dense web of laboratory measurements, technoscientific mediations, and collective negotiations of their meanings. Patients also participate in clinical interpretation practices. The new forms of clinical trials organized around genomic platforms are no mere tests of therapies; they are complex clinical experimental systems. It also redraws connections between laboratory practices, clinical trials, and routine care.
