The chimera of liberal individualism: how cells became selves in human clinical genetics

Let's Get Back to Normal? COVID-19 and the Logic of Cure

The COVID-19 pandemic has inversed certainties of absolutes of cure in everyday life but paradoxically this has occurred during a time when novel scientific advancements seem to herald a new frontier of cures for rare diseases, chronic conditions, disabilities and viruses that were previously incurable. In this paper, I illustrate the development of a logic of cure by first of all noting a lacuna in the medical sociological and anthropological literature, where although a lot of empirical research and theoretical work to understand cure has been undertaken, there has been no sociology or anthropology of cure. Using three case studies, I examine what they reveal about the logic of cure. Firstly, I argue that there is a development of a bioethics of cure in reactions of disability community and disabled people to care as cure during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second case-study focuses on understanding limitations of vaccines and how people react against such indeterminancies of loss of absolutes of cure. Lastly, the final case study describes how while there are cures, for example, for rare genetic conditions, they are often initially curated with long-term cost-benefit analysis for the Global North. In conclusion, it is found that many of the developments within sociology and anthropology are missing from a logic of cure and that a new theory of cure has to develop.

Individuals, Boundaries, and Graft-versus-Host Disease

Hematopoietic cell transplantation generates new individuals, transplant chimeras, composed of 2 genetic partners-the patient and donor-derived cells-no longer restricted by their original genomes. Interactions of donor-derived and recipient cells occur prominently at the boundary of the recipient with a third partner, the microbiome, in particular skin and intestinal tract, leading to disruption of microbiome homeostasis. These interactions of donor and patient cells at the boundary set the stage for the development of graft-versus-host disease, an expression of the defense of individuality by recipient and donor. Establishment of tolerance and return of homeostasis at the boundary will allow for the survival of the new integrated, physiologic individual.

'Incongruous juxtapositions': the chimaera and Mrs McK

A century ago, the German botanist Hans Winkler (best known for coining the term 'genome') accomplished two novel transplantations. First, he produced a single plant that grafted together two completely disparate species: tomato and nightshade. Second, he chose the descriptive word 'chimaera' to name his innovation, transplanting the term from mythology to biology. This paper features Mrs McK, the first human chimera, and thus follows the term from botany to clinical medicine. Her remarkable story, pieced together from the notes, drafts and correspondence of Robert Race and his colleagues at the MRC Blood Group Unit, draws attention to the significance of names and naming.