The Century of the
Gene – Fall 2006
STSH 2410
Prof. Michael Fortun Meeting Times: M, R 10-12
Sage 5112 Place: Low 3112
X6598
Office Hours: M, R 4-5; also by appointment.
This syllabus is subject to change; the most recent version (with hyperlinks) can always be found at www.rpi.edu/~fortum.
This course details the scientific and social history of genetics, from Darwin and Mendel to the Human Genome Project. Special focus areas include: plant and animal breeding in the early twentieth century; eugenics movements in the U.S. and elsewhere; bacterial and fruit fly genetics; the development of molecular biology; the invention of recombinant-DNA technologies; the emergence of the biotechnology industry; the sociobiology controversies; genetics and evolutionary theory; and the Human Genome Project and contemporary genomics.
By the end of this course you will:
You will be graded on a straight grading scale, i.e.: A 90-100, B 80-89, C 70-79, D 60-69
Your final grade will be determined as a combination of class attendance and participation, three brief in-class exams and three short writing assignments. There is no final exam, and there is no extra credit option – there is no substitute for being present in mind and body and engaging actively with the course materials.
Each class session will consist of some combination of lecture, discussion of the assigned readings, and occasionally a video on that week’s topic.
Class attendance and participation (20%):
You should attend every class, coming to each meeting with the readings you have completed along with your notes, and you should contribute regularly to class discussions. I reserve the right to deduct points if you establish a pattern of lateness, silence or non-participation, or unexcused absence.
You cannot earn an A with more than 2 unexcused absences. To get an excused absence, you must present an official university excuse or do work comparable to attendance by writing an additional reading response paper (see next section) that critically examines all readings discussed while you were absent. No more than two excused absences will be permitted.
And each week, EVERYONE SHOULD submit ONE QUESTION BY MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, by email to me. I will try
to address some of the questions (anonymously) in class, but won’t have the
time or knowledge to answer all of them; the main point in any case is to RAISE
the question. As we know from
science, few things are more important than being able to look at a situation
and ask a good question, even if it would take an entire career to answer
it. As you do the readings,
you should not have a problem coming up with something that puzzles you,
confuses you, or simply makes you wonder about something. It might be about a person, an argument
made by an author, other things that were happening at a particular historical
moment, or how a past event resonates with a current event or trend, or
whatever else the course material made you curious about. It doesn’t have to be
long, and it doesn’t have to contain exact quotes (although these are always
good.) BUT YOUR EMAIL MUST DO 3 THINGS:
These questions will not be
graded, and you are NOT REQUIRED to submit one each week, but you will receive
either a 0 or 1 that will count toward your class participation grade. If you do not submit a question for a
particular week, if it arrives late, or if I judge it to be a non-serious
effort, you receive a zero for that week; otherwise you receive a 1, toward a
possible total of 14 for the semester. Sustaining a pattern of thoughtful
questions can do a lot, from making up for shyness in discussion to putting you
over a borderline grade.
Three short writing assignments (40%): These 3-5 page essays (typed, double-spaced) are due in class as indicated in the syllabus. Email your papers to me. Unless you have an excused absence, late papers will not be accepted and you will receive a 0. The assignment will be distributed a week before the date it is due, or earlier when appropriate or possible. If you have to miss class, you are responsible for getting the assignment from a friend or from the folder which will be posted on my office door. The assignment may pertain to the course readings, videos, or related web sites; more specific guidelines and requirements will be provided for each paper. You will be graded on both content as well as mechanics (grammar, syntax, organization, etc.).
Three in-class exams (40%): These brief (30-40 minutes) exams will be distributed throughout the semester as indicated in the syllabus. They are a mix of multiple choice questions, short answers, identifications, and such. If you engage seriously with the course materials, take notes, and engage in class discussions, you should do well on the exams. If you have to miss an exam through an excused absence, you may be given a make-up writing assignment rather than a make-up exam.
Academic
Dishonesty Policy
You should read the Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities so that you understand all the acts that constitute a violation of the Institute’s academic dishonesty policy. Plagiarism is the most frequent violation, sometimes because students are unfamiliar with what constitutes plagiarism. You should read the brief but thorough description found at Indiana University's plagiarism page (http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html).
I have a policy of zero tolerance for plagiarism or any other act of academic dishonesty. If you commit any such act, you will – at minimum – receive an F for that assignment and be subject to RPI’s judicial process. Failure of the entire course is also within my rights as instructor.
TEXTS
The following texts should be purchased in the RPI bookstore:
Evelyn Fox Keller, The Century of the Gene
Simon Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf
Diane Paul, Controlling Human Heredity: 1865 to the
present
James Watson, The Double Helix
WEEK 1
Aug 28 Introduction
VIDEO on Darwin and evolutionary theory (Part 1)
Aug 31 Humans and Animals, God and Nature
VIDEO on Darwin and evolutionary theory (Part 2)
WEEK 2
Sep 4 No class
Sep 7 When Cousins Kiss: Darwin, Galton, and “Regression
to the Mean”
READ: Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, Chap. 2, “Evolutionary Anxieties,” pp. 22-39.
Simon Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf, pp. 1-39
READ: Francis Galton, The Possible Improvement of the Human Breed Under the Existing Conditions of Law and Sentiment, Nature 64 (1901), 659-665.
WEEK 3
Sep 11 Mendel and Pisum: Hybridizing and the Business of Breeding
READ: Jan Sapp, "The Nine Lives of Gregor Mendel," at MendelWeb
Diane Paul and Barbara Kimmelman, "Mendel in America: Theory and Practice, 1900-1919", at MendelWeb
SKIM: Daniel
Hartl and Vitezslav Orel, "What
Did Gregor Mendel Think He Discovered?", at MendelWeb
Sep 14 Morgan and Drosophila: Splitting Embryology and Genetics
READ: Keller, The Century of the Gene, pp. 1-20.
Eric R. Kandel, Thomas Hunt Morgan at Columbia University
T.H. Morgan, "What Are 'Factors' in Mendelian Explanations?", American Breeders Association Reports 5: 365-368
WEEK 4
Sep 18 Genetics and
Eugenics in the U.S.
READ: Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, Chaps. 1, 3, and 4, pp. 1-21, 40-71
Sep 21 Genetics and
Eugenics in the U.S. (cont.)
VIDEO: Homo Sapiens 1900
READ Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf, pp. 40-98
WEEK 5
Sep 25 Genetics and Eugenics in the U.S. (cont.)
PAPER
#1 DUE IN CLASS
Sep 28 Abyss: Racial Hygiene in Germany
READ: Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, Chaps. 5-6, pp. 72-114
WEEK 6
Oct 2 Corn Girls
READ: Barbara McClintock and the Jumping Genes
Oct 5 Fly Boys
READ: Edward B. Lewis, Thomas Hunt Morgan and his Legacy
Start reading Watson, The Double Helix)
WEEK 7
Oct 10 How Genetics Became Molecular (TUESDAY MEETING!!)
READ: Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf, pp. 99-135
Continue
reading Watson, The Double Helix
Oct 12 How Genetics Became Molecular
READ: The One Gene/One Enzyme Hypothesis
Keller, The Century of the Gene, pp. 21-87
Brenda Maddox, "Before Watson and Crick"
WEEK 8
Oct 16
Oct 19 VIDEO: The Double Helix
READ: READ: Rosalind Elsie Franklin: Pioneer Molecular Biologist
Ann Piper, "Light on a Dark Lady," Trends in Biochemical Sciences 23:151-154
Lynne Elkin, "Defending Franklin's Legacy"
Finish Watson, The Double Helix (main text, to p. 103)
[Oct 20 is last day to drop a course.]
WEEK 9
Oct 23 Honest Jim?
READ: In The Double Helix book: Mary Ellman, “The Scientist Tells” (pp. 187-191); Robert L. Sinsheimer, The Double Helix (pp. 191-194); Max Perutz, M.H.F. Wilkins, and James D. Watson, “Three Letters to the Editor of Science” (pp. 207-212); and Andre Lwoff, “Truth, Truth, What is Truth (About How the Structure of DNA Was Discovered)?” (pp. 225-234)
Brian Hayes, The Invention of the Genetic Code, American Scientist (Jan.-Feb. 1998)
Oct. 26 A Different Kind of Race
READ: Interview with Steven J. Gould
Interview with Evelynn Hammonds
Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf, pp. 136-168
Oct 30 Sociobiology
PAPER
#2 DUE IN CLASS
READ: Wikipedia entry on Sociobiology
C. George Boeree, Sociobiology
E.O. Wilson, Science and ideology, Academic Questions 8 (1995)Tom Bethell, Against Sociobiology, First Things 109 (January 2001)
Val Dusek, SOCIOBIOLOGY SANITIZED: THE EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND GENIC SELECTIONISM DEBATES
Nov 2 Sociobiology (cont.)
WEEK 11
Nov 6 Engineering Genetic Engineering
EXAM #2
READ: Mawer, Mendel’s
Dwarf, pp. 169-208
Marcia Barinaga, "Asilomar revisited," Science 287:1584-1585.
PaulBerg, "Asilomar and Recombinant DNA"
Nov 9 Jumpstarting the Biotech Industry
READ: Sally Smith Hughes, “Making Dollars Out of DNA,” Isis 92 (2001): 541-575
WEEK 12
Nov 13The Human Genome Project
READ: Leslie Roberts, "Controversial from the Start," Science 291 (5507): 1182a
Robert M. Cook-Deegan, Origins of the Human Genome Project, Risk 5 (1994).
Nov 16 The Human Genome Project (cont.)
READ: TBA
WEEK 13 Case Studies in Contemporary Genetics
Nov 20 More
or Less “Simple” Conditions
READ: Rayna Rapp, “Refusing Prenatal Diagnosis: The Meanings of Bioscience in a Multicultural World,” Science, Technology and Human Values 23:1 (Winter 1998): 45-70
Sickle Cell Anemia: What is it?
Huntington Disease : What is it?
WEEK 14
Nov 27 Less or More “Complex” Conditions
READ:
Joseph McInerny, Genes and Behavior: A Complex Relationship, Judicature November-December 1999 Vol 83(3)
Mark Rothstein, The Impact of Behavioral Genetics on the Law and the Courts, Judicature November-December 1999 Vol 83(3)
Optional Reading:
D. Wahlsten, Single Gene Influences on Brain and Behavior, Annual Review of Psychology 50 (1999):599-624
Nov 30 Mendel’s Dwarf
PAPER
#3 DUE IN CLASS
READ: Mawer, Mendel’s Dwarf, pp. 240-end
WEEK 15
Dec 5 Genetic Revisions
EXAM
#3
READ: Keller, The Century of the Gene, pp. 87-148
Steven Rose, The Biology of the Future and the Future of Biology, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 44.4 (2001):473-484.
Matt Ridley, "The Genome Changes Everything"
Dec 8 Post-Genomics: Toxicogenomics
READ: Kim Fortun and Mike Fortun, “Scientific Imaginaries and Ethical Plateaus in Contemporary U.S. Toxicology,” American Anthropologist 107(1):43-54. March 2005.