The Science of Human Perfection

Comfort, Nathaniel

doi:10.12987/yale/9780300169911.001.0001

Cited by 165 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…For Motulsky, the study of the G6PD deficiency was a very promising new line of research to study the genetic basis of the response to various drugs (Motulsky 1957, Motulsky andCampbell-Kraut 1961). His article on blood reactions to drugs is considered a founding document in the field of pharmacogenetics, the study of genetic variation in response to drugs (Comfort 2012). These studies were particularly important and influential in Lisker's work, as we will see below.…”

Section: Dr Rubén Lisker Yourkowitzky In An International Settingmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It's worth noting that in 1945, Alexander Wiener and a Mexican colleague J. Preciado Zepeda also published a study on the individual blood differences in Mexican Indians, with special reference to Rh blood types and Hr factors (Wiener et al 1945). New York physician Wiener had begun the study on the Rh factor at the beginning of the 1940s, trying to classify the Rh alleles using familiar subscripts of letters and numbers (Comfort 2012). Being a blood group expert, Wiener worked with samples of serum factors from Afro-American, Jewish, Chinese, Australian, and Mexican populations and the data were incorporated in Arthur Mourant's survey on the distribution of human blood groups (Suárez and Barahona 2013; see also Mourant 1954).…”

Section: Mario Salazar Mallén and Adolfo Karl's First Genetic Charactmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like anemia and thalassemia, G6PD deficiency is a biochemical-genetic response that helps protect against malaria (Box 2). This condition was discovered in the 1920s among workers on South American banana plantations run by the United Fruit Company (Comfort 2012). For Motulsky, the study of the G6PD deficiency was a very promising new line of research to study the genetic basis of the response to various drugs (Motulsky 1957, Motulsky andCampbell-Kraut 1961).…”

Section: Dr Rubén Lisker Yourkowitzky In An International Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies paved the way for the development of knowledge on human heredity that contributed to the introduction of medical genetics to Mexico, and the development of population genetics there (Barahona 2009). As Comfort (2012) has shown, the development of medical genetics was therefore strongly linked to that of human genetics, a process called the "medical turn" in human genetics, which occurred in the middle of the 20th century in the years following WWII. "The narrative of the medical turn in human genetics implies that genetics colonized medicine.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Medical Genetics and the First Studies of the Genetics of Populations in Mexico

Barahona

2016

Genetics

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Following World War II (WWII), there was a new emphasis within genetics on studying the genetic composition of populations. This probably had a dual source in the growing strength of evolutionary biology and the new international interest in understanding the effects of radiation on human populations, following the atomic bombings in Japan. These global concerns were shared by Mexican physicians. Indeed, Mexico was one of the leading centers of this trend in human genetics. Three leading players in this story were Mario Salazar Mallén, Adolfo Karl, and Rubén Lisker. Their trajectories and the international networks in human genetics that were established after WWII, paved the way for the establishment of medical and population genetics in Mexico. Salazar Mallén's studies on the distribution and characterization of ABO blood groups in indigenous populations were the starting point while Karl's studies on the distribution of abnormal hemoglobin in Mexican indigenous populations showed the relationships observed in other laboratories at the time. It was Lisker's studies, however, that were instrumental in the development of population genetics in the context of national public policies for extending health care services to the Mexican population. In particular, he conducted studies on Mexican indigenous groups contributing to the knowledge of the biological diversity of human populations according to international trends that focused on the variability of human populations in terms of genetic frequencies. From the start, however, Lisker was as committed to the reconstruction of shared languages and practices as he was to building networks of collaboration in order to guarantee the necessary groundwork for establishing the study of the genetics of human populations in Mexico. This study also allows us to place Mexican science within a global context in which connected narratives describe the interplay between global trends and national contexts.

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Section: Dr Rubén Lisker Yourkowitzky In An International Settingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Mario Salazar Mallén and Adolfo Karl's First Genetic Charactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dr Rubén Lisker Yourkowitzky In An International Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Medical Genetics and the First Studies of the Genetics of Populations in Mexico

Barahona

2016

Genetics

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“…With the help of the National Indigenous Institute (Instituto Nacional Indigenista) and the Summer Language School (Escuela Linguística de Verano), which had the infrastructure to take the blood samples and to manage the indigenous populations, Lisker and his colleagues made an extensive survey of the Mixtec linguistic area, which comprises the states of Puebla, Oaxaca, and Guerrero, in southern Mexico, where Lisker found a close relationship between the presence of G6PD deficiency and malaria. It was well known at the time that G6PD deficiency, like anemia and thalassemia, was a biochemical-genetic response to malaria discovered in the 1920s among workers in South American banana plantations run by the United Fruit Company (Comfort, 2012). Thanks to the National Campaign for the Eradication of Malaria, the Ministry of Health decided to study the area for G6PD deficiency as a preliminary step prior to implementing general treatment with primaquine (Barahona, 2009).…”

Section: Genetic Characterization Of Indigenous Populations and The Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

Karyotyping and population genetics in Cold War Mexico: Armendares’s and Lisker’s characterization of child and indigenous populations, 1960s-1980s

Barahona

2019

Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos

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This paper focuses on geneticists Salvador Armendares’s and Rubén Lisker’s studies from the 1960s to the 1980s, to explore how their work fits into the post-1945 human biological studies, and also how the populations they studied, child and indigenous, can be considered laboratories of knowledge production. This paper describes how populations were considered for different purposes: scientific inquiry, standardization of medical practices, and production or application of medicines. Through the narrative of the different trajectories and collaborations between Armendares and Lisker, this paper also attempts to show the contact of their scientific practices, which brought cytogenetics and population genetics together at the local and global levels from a transnational perspective.

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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Witkowski

2014

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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The Biological Laboratory was established at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA, in 1890 as a summer school for teachers of biology. It began a transition to becoming a research institute in 1898, and in 1904, the Carnegie Institution of Washington created the Station for Experimental Evolution. A third institute, the Eugenics Records Office (ERO), was established in 1910. The ERO was closed in 1940 and the two remaining institutes amalgamated to create the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory of Quantitative Biology in 1963. Genetics was and remains the central theme of the Laboratory's research, focusing on cancer, but current areas of research also include quantitative biology, neurobiology and plant genetics. The Laboratory is also the leading centre for meetings and courses in experimental biology; over 8500 scientists attend over 50 meetings and 25 courses held annually. The Laboratory's DNA Learning Center provides education in molecular genetics for high school students, whereas the Watson School of Biological Sciences, founded in 1998, grants the PhD degree. Key Concepts: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is located in Nassau County on Long Island, New York, USA. It is a world‐renowned institute for research on topics of biological and biomedical importance. The laboratory plays a key role in professional education through its meetings, courses and book publishing. The Watson School of Biological Science offers graduate training leading to the PhD degree. The DNA Learning Center provides teaching in molecular genetics for high school students.

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The Science of Human Perfection

Cited by 165 publications

References 0 publications

Medical Genetics and the First Studies of the Genetics of Populations in Mexico

Medical Genetics and the First Studies of the Genetics of Populations in Mexico

Karyotyping and population genetics in Cold War Mexico: Armendares’s and Lisker’s characterization of child and indigenous populations, 1960s-1980s

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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