CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Since the conception of the Human Genome Project in the mid 1980´s and the subsequent developments of the Omics it is not an exaggeration to affirm that these areas of knowledge have become relevant within the natural sciences. Also, from the very beginning Genomics and Omics presented a clear intention of generating knowledge and technologies to intervene in socio-economic aspects of human societies, especially within the health sector. For example, there are two consortium type research initiatives, ?The Cancer Genome Atlas? and ?The International Cancer Genome Consortium?, entirely dedicated to genomic investigation of cancer.In this context, the main concern in the present work is to analyze if the novel aspects brought about by Genomics have an influence, and how it is embodied, in Cancer Research. We will address two issues that are of relevance both for Genomics and for Cancer Research. Firstly, we will enquire if explanations of biological phenomena are constructed from a complex perspective and, secondly if there is an inclusion or exclusion of the hierarchical view of life.The analysis we aim to do have a 2 step structure: (i) one related to the study of Genomics, to then move (ii) to studies where Genomics is used in Cancer Research.In the case of complexity, even if Genomics has incorporated complex conceptualizations of the action of genes in the genotype-phenotype relationship, when it comes to its usage in Cancer Research these complex conceptualizations are not frequently found. Studies show that after a genomic scale analysis the focus is turned toward previously known "cancer genes" as elementary isolated units, leaving aside systemic interactions between them and external factors that influence both the elementary units (their form, action or state) and also their interactions.In relation to the inclusion of a hierarchical view of life, given some particular characteristics of Genomics, a new level of the biological hierarchy could be proposed: the ?genomic? or ?genome? level, independent from the traditional ?gene? level. Nevertheless, in traditional Genomics this novel ?genome? level is not clearly conceptualized, at least on an ontological and epistemic dimension. When we look at genomic investigation performed in Cancer Research there is a peculiar situation. Even when there is a recognizable tradition of Cancer Research which considers the neoplastic process in a hierarchical configuration, this hierarchical view is laid aside when Genomics intervenes.In conclusion, we have found that when Cancer Research meets with genomic investigation, the particular aspects found in Genomics regarding complexity and hierarchy are not recovered in their original form. The analysis performed demonstrates that, as expected when two areas of knowledge relate, the relationship between Genomics and Cancer Research is far from being simple and straightforward. We will finally mention some current epistemological discussion that seem to contribute to this analysis and debate.