ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is on the emergence of a new research field in Latin America and its development during more than a century: from the early birth of molecular biology in the 1950s to the recent genetic databases and bioinformatics.
The development of molecular biology in Argentina happened quite early, with the discipline just taking off internationally: Indeed, there were very few groups around the world working on topics that could yet be called “molecular biology”. For the scientists involved, it was not yet clear that the techniques issuing from molecular biology were laying the foundations of a new discipline.
This question is the crossroad of several issues: the more accurate level of analysis to understand scientific development in peripheral societies, the center–periphery relations, and the (real or potential) utility of knowledge locally produced. Consequently, molecular biology and bioinformatics in Argentina are fascinating examples of the development of a new knowledge space in a peripheral context.
