Genetic screening as a technique of government: The case of neonatal screening for cystic fibrosis in France

International audienceThe biomedicalization process and the rise of genetics that have occurred in the last decades involve political issues concerning subjects in biomedicine who are in a position to act and make choices. My work examines these issues through a study of the process by which neonatal screening for the genetic disease of cystic fibrosis was set up in France. Making use of the Foucauldian notion of government, which implies power relations among entities recognized as subjects of action, I examine how different agents (or groups) came to form either governing or governable entities within this health policy, and by what means government in this area is exercised. The study positions relations between governors and the governed in the dynamic specific to them, showing that screening for cystic fibrosis is to a large degree a political technique for governing self and others based on a biomedical technique. Two types of subjects (a professional association and a patients’ association) are seen to be constituted in different ways and endowed with more or less extensive power. More generally, the study raises the question of the form of the political, through the example of genetic screening

Une politique de santé "a priori". Le dépistage néonatal de la mucoviscidose en Bretagne

Le dépistage néonatal de la mucoviscidose (DNM), qui fait l'objet d'un débat, au plan international, sur son opportunité, a été décidé officiellement en 2002 en France. Notre étude a trait à un programme régional de DNM, lancé en 1988 en Bretagne, à une époque où les études sur l'intérêt de ce dépistage pour les enfants malades étaient peu étayées, et où elles apportaient des résultats contradictoires. Ce programme peut être qualifié de politique de santé " a priori ", au sens philosophique, puisqu'il était antérieur aux expériences menées pour prouver cet intérêt, et indépendant de celles-ci. Notre recherche étudie les conditions et les logiques d'action de cette politique régionale de santé en Bretagne, dans le contexte de développement de la génétique. Elle montre la façon dont les arguments biomédicaux mobilisés (biologiques, épidémiologiques et médicaux) ont contribué à légitimer le DNM et ont diffusé dans des espaces élargis. Elle montre également la façon dont ces arguments sont entrés en résonance avec l'action non seulement dans le secteur biomédical mais aussi, bien au-delà, au sein d'une partie de la population bretonne

Poring Over the World at the Court. Coronelli’s Globes and the Social Lives of Maps in France (1680-1715)

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Establishment of a murine epidermal cell line suitable for in vitro and in vivo skin modelling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Skin diseases are a major health problem. Some of the most severe conditions involve genetic disorders, including cancer. Several of these human diseases have been modelled in genetically modified mice, thus becoming a highly valuable preclinical tool for the treatment of these pathologies. However, development of three-dimensional models of skin using keratinocytes from normal and/or genetically modified mice has been hindered by the difficulty to subculture murine epidermal keratinocytes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We have generated a murine epidermal cell line by serially passaging keratinocytes isolated from the back skin of adult mice. We have termed this cell line COCA. Cell culture is done in fully defined media and does not require feeder cells or any other coating methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>COCA retained its capacity to differentiate and stratify in response to increased calcium concentration in the cell culture medium for more than 75 passages. These cells, including late passage, can form epidermis-like structures in three-dimensional <it>in vitro </it>models with a well-preserved pattern of proliferation and differentiation. Furthermore, these cells form epidermis in grafting assays <it>in vivo</it>, and do not develop tumorigenic ability.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We propose that COCA constitutes a good experimental system for <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>skin modelling. Also, cell lines from genetically modified mice of interest in skin biology could be established using the method we have developed. COCA keratinocytes would be a suitable control, within a similar background, when studying the biological implications of these alterations.</p

Comments and Reply to “Appearance and origin…” (avec Anna Jabloner, Kevin Karpiak, Mark Maguire, David Skinner et Peter Wade)

International audienc

Lebensqualität oder‚gutes Leben ? Das kranke Kind, das Gen, der Fötus

International audienc

Maintien autonome et recombinaison d'elements genetiques dans des familles de souris transgeniques et des cellules en culture

SIGLEINIST T 73727 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc