How Do Postgenomic Innovations Emerge? Building Legitimacy by Proteomics Standards and Informing the Next-Generation...

Area of Science:

• * Postgenomic innovation
• * Sociotechnical studies of science
• * Science and technology policy

Background:

• * Postgenomic innovations require strategies for establishing legitimacy and political power.
• * Proteomics serves as a case study for understanding these sociotechnical processes.
• * Standard-making is a key strategy within emergent scientific fields.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To investigate how emergent postgenomic fields establish legitimacy and political power.
• * To analyze the role of standard-setting practices in validating new technologies.
• * To examine the sociotechnical strategies employed by proteomics to gain scientific acceptance.

Main Methods:

• * Original case study utilizing interviews with proteomics scientists.
• * Observations at Human Proteome Organization and Australasian Proteomics Society conferences (2011-2015).
• * Application of legitimacy theory to analyze standard-setting practices.

Main Results:

• * Proteomics scientists and organizations strategically used standards to legitimize the field.
• * Standards were employed to affirm the verifiability and reproducibility of proteomics results.
• * Legitimacy gained through standards also served to maximize political power relative to other scientific fields.

Conclusions:

• * Standard-making is a political process crucial for legitimizing emergent scientific fields and technologies.
• * Standards are not neutral but are strategic tools for leveraging political power in science and innovation.
• * Findings inform technology policy by highlighting the political dimensions of standards in scientific innovation.