UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics

UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics ISG uses interdisciplinary teams of scientists to address essential research questions bridging the cultural divide between life sciences + human sciences

From our food and medicine to our sexuality and emotions, the avalanche of new findings in genetics requires us to rethink our views about what it means to be human, to form social bonds, and to live in society. Focusing attention on both the opportunities and the challenges this situation presents, the Institute for Society and Genetics aims to make these possibilities explicit and to help work towards a society that understands, discusses, and makes informed decisions about issues in human genetics. The more we learn about the relation between genes and behavior the more we appreciate the complexity and plasticity of these relations. There is no longer any possibility of separating out nature and nurture as two opposed determinants of who we are. For that reason, the Institute takes as its intellectual focus the idea of co-evolution of society and genetics shaping each other in a dynamic interrelationship. This orientation follows naturally from the Human Genome Project, which has focused attention on two major concerns. First are the ethical and legal issues arising from knowledge of the human genome and from associated research and technology. Second is the fact that the genetic basis of human life far exceeds mere gene sequences. Instead, understanding genetics requires a sophisticated view of complex interactions of multiple genes, gene expression and their social context. In fact, both concerns draw attention to the iterative, coevolutionary nature of the scholarship integrating society and genetics. With a better understanding of all of the levels of co-evolution, we will be in a better position to evaluate how we as a society are engaged at every level in the process of producing who we are and what we are becoming. Most importantly, we will be better able to judge the benefits and harms and the freedoms and inequalities that are being generated, and to make informed ethical judgments about matters of law and policy. These issues are becoming ever more pressing as genetics becomes an increasingly prominent aspect of everyday life.

To all ISG Students, ISG Lecturer Anne Le Goff will be teaching during this Summer Session C on our Soc Gen 165 course: ...
08/05/2021

To all ISG Students, ISG Lecturer Anne Le Goff will be teaching during this Summer Session C on our Soc Gen 165 course: "Introduction to Bioethics."

Submit your inquiries to ISG Student Affairs Officer, Maverick Santos. More information can be found here at socgen.ucla.edu.

The Color of American Genomics: Genetics in the Era of Racialized Medicine - Friday December 9, 2016, Royce Hall 306, 1:...
11/30/2016

The Color of American Genomics: Genetics in the Era of Racialized Medicine - Friday December 9, 2016, Royce Hall 306, 1:30PM-4:30PM

Since the 1960s, American ethno-racial categories have been increasingly used to respond to the inclusion of ethnic and racial minorities in biomedicine and genetics. It has been the researchers’ very dedication to the positive ideals of diversity and to the struggle against medical disparities that has paradoxically allowed racial categories to massively gain ground in science. This half-day symposium aims to shed light on the scope of racialized science and the political and ethical considerations raised by this new paradigm.

This workshop is free and open to the public

10/28/2016

ISG Faculty, Soraya de Chadarevian, Christopher Kelty, and Norton Wise, and ISG Associate, Ted Norton, will be participating in the November 18-19 workshop, "Histories of Data and the Database" at the Steven S. Koblik Education and Visitor Center.

The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics incorporates scientists fully in the process of understanding ethical, legal, and societal impacts of the applications of their genetic and genomic research. We aim to educate the public to understand, discuss, and make informed decisions about issues in b...

"A new study from Indiana University provides evidence in mice that males may play a positive role in the development of...
07/01/2015

"A new study from Indiana University provides evidence in mice that males may play a positive role in the development of offspring’s brains starting before pregnancy."

The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics incorporates scientists fully in the process of understanding ethical, legal, and societal impacts of the applications of their genetic and genomic research. We aim to educate the public to understand, discuss, and make informed decisions about issues in b…

"Scientists at UC San Diego have discovered that planarians, commonly used in high-school biology labs to study regenera...
06/30/2015

"Scientists at UC San Diego have discovered that planarians, commonly used in high-school biology labs to study regeneration and the primitive nervous system, are actually quite sophisticated when it comes to modeling the response of the developing human nervous system to potentially toxic chemicals."

The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics incorporates scientists fully in the process of understanding ethical, legal, and societal impacts of the applications of their genetic and genomic research. We aim to educate the public to understand, discuss, and make informed decisions about issues in b…

"Bats are dying by the millions, and there’s no sure way to stop the plague of white-nose syndrome that could cause majo...
06/30/2015

"Bats are dying by the millions, and there’s no sure way to stop the plague of white-nose syndrome that could cause major ecological change and even extinctions, say biologists at Southern Connecticut State University."

The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics incorporates scientists fully in the process of understanding ethical, legal, and societal impacts of the applications of their genetic and genomic research. We aim to educate the public to understand, discuss, and make informed decisions about issues in b…

Congratulations, Class of 2015. Wishing each of you the best in your future endeavors! -The Institute for Society and G...
06/30/2015

Congratulations, Class of 2015. Wishing each of you the best in your future endeavors! -The Institute for Society and Genetics

"You might resemble or act more like your mother, but a novel research study from UNC School of Medicine researchers rev...
03/04/2015

"You might resemble or act more like your mother, but a novel research study from UNC School of Medicine researchers reveal that mammals are genetically more like their dads."

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