Scholars: Biotechnology, Screening and Translational Medicine

This project researches the translation of scientific research, specifically human genomic analysis, into a medical tool, newborn genomic screening. It investigates why this development is occurring, including scientific research, biotechnology actors, and other interested parties, and its effects on patients, healthcare systems, and society. Results of this study inform the understanding of scholars, stakeholders, decisionmakers, and the public and contextualize how new areas of modern medical science and biotechnology may be developed and translated into medical tools. This project uses mixed methods to study the grants and publications that pushed the field forward, the roles of biotech actors, and media coverage and their scenarios of the future of DNA testing. The study involves analysis of research documents and interviews with participants in all aspects of the genomic research, and investigates different aspects of the ethical and societal context of this development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.