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Dr Richard Tutton

Cesagen: Senior Lecturer

Degree: PhD in Sociology (Lancaster, 2002) MA in Critical and Cultural Studies (Essex, 1996) BA in English and European Literature (Essex, 1994)

Associated research centres and groups: Centre for Science Studies, ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen)

Personal website

Current Teaching

My teaching interests are in science and technology studies and the sociology of health and illness. In 2010-11, I have been teaching on the MSc in Biomedicine on social, cultural and historical dimensions of biomedical research (in the Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences in the School of Health and Medicine), the third year undergraduate dissertation module in the Department of Sociology (which I also convened in Lent and Summer terms 2011), and a special study module in the Division of Medicine.

Research Interests

I characterize my work as being at the intersection of medical sociology and the social studies of science (or STS - Science and Technology Studies). My previous work has been on the governance of new medical technologies, changing forms of citizenship, patient participation, and identity practices in relation to genetic knowledge, biopolitics, and, more recently the role of expectations in science and technology.

Much of my current research centres on "personalized medicine", which is a powerful vision of how healthcare should be delivered in the future that is shaping contemporary research, with significant public and private investment going towards the realization of this vision.

There are two strands to this research:

The first is a historically informed study of how visions of personalized medicine are being constructed in different scientific, commercial and political arenas. I locate the rise of personalized medicine within a broader trend of 'biomedicalization' (Clarke et al 2010) that entails both the stratification of patients and the customization of prevention, diagnosis and therapy. I am documenting and examining the ways in which a range of actors are seeking to materialize these visions and seeks to historically situate the emergence of personalized medicine in relation to developments in healthcare, and medical practice and research.

A second strand relates to the emergence of the direct-to-consumer personal genomics industry (companies such as California-based 23andMe) which promises to transform the relationship between patients and doctors by empowering people with information about their future genetic risks, and to usher in a new consumer-led model of conducting biomedical research. However, this is also a highly controversial industry that has been subject to much debate: scientists, clinicians and ethicists question the scientific validity and reliability of personal genomics services and criticize the direct-to-consumer approach for excluding professional counselling and support. Using approaches developed in STS to study the formation of markets and on the role of "expectations" in innovation, my work in collaboration with Professors Adam Hedgecoe (Cesagen at University of Cardiff) and Paul Martin (Sociology at University of Nottingham) investigates the promise and controversy around the emergence of direct-to-consumer personal genomics as a case study of how markets are being realized and organized today in personalized medicine.

I have also been working with my colleague Anne-Marie Fortier in the Department of Sociology on how in the last two decades genealogy-making has been reimagined and reconstituted by new scientific, technological and cultural practices related to the use of genetic testing, information technologies, museums, fiction, and artistic representations. These changes raise some important social scientific questions concerning changing notions of identity, belonging, race, nation, family. In this, my particular interest is in the appearance and uptake of online genetic genealogy services.

Potential Doctoral Proposals

I have supervised doctoral research in areas ranging from health and citizenship, biobanking and human tissue collections, enhancement and biomedicalization, and identity-formation in the context of genetic knowledge.

I currently supervise four students:

Lee Wan-Ju who is researching the Taiwanese biobank with reference to the political economy of the life sciences (with Brian Wynne)

Anna Portman who is investigating the scientific and social dynamics of the bicentennial celebrations of Charles Darwin's birth in 2009 (with Bronislaw Szerszynski)

Karolina Papros who, as part of the Polish Academy of Sciences-Lancaster University Dual PhD Programme, is working on the biopolitics and biosociality of breast cancer

Tania Pastrana who is conducting an ethnography of a palliative care unit (with Dawn Goodwin).

I would welcome opportunities to supervise future doctoral students interested in working from a science studies or sociological perspective on biomedical or genetic technologies and services in medical, forensic and cultural arenas; questions of identity,citizenship and 'biosociality' in relation to genetic science and knowledge, or on the role of expectations or imaginaries in scientific and commercial innovation.

Background

My academic training was in literary and cultural studies, before my interest turned to studying the social implications of human genetics research in the late 1990s. I completed a PhD with Sarah Franklin and Maureen McNeil in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University in 2002, and then took up a post-doc post in SATSU (Science and Technology Studies Unit) at University of York working with Anne Kerr and Sarah Cunningham-Burley on an ESRC funded project called Transformations in Genetic Subjecthood. When this research finished, I moved to the Institute for Science and Society (ISS) at the University of Nottingham and collaborated with Paul Martin (at ISS), Richard Ashcroft (Queen Mary's), George Ellison (St George's London), and Andrew Smart (Bath Spa) on the 'Race/ethnicity and Genetics in Science and Health' Project, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust's Biomedical Ethics Programme. In March 2007, I was appointed Senior Lecturer at Cesagen Lancaster, a post which I took up in September of that year.

Current Role

In Cesagen I am the Assistant Director with responsibility for the operational management of the Lancaster site of Cesagen, and also a member of the Centre's Management Committee.

Selected Publications

Tutton, R and B Prainsack (in press, 2011) 'Altruistic or Enterprising Selves? Making up Subjects in Genetics Research', Sociology of Health and Illness

Tutton, R (in press, 2011) 'Promising Pessimism: Reading the Futures to be Avoided in Biotech', Social Studies of Science

Raman, S and R Tutton (2010) 'Life, Science and Biopower', Science, Technology and Human Values 35 (5): 711-734

Tutton, R. (2009) 'Social Aspects of Genetic Testing Technologies', Sociology Compass, 2/6: 1-14

Tutton, R. (2009) 'Notes on Language, Policy and Human Tissue' inM. Steinmann, P. Sykora and U. Weising (eds), Altruism Reconsidered, Exploring New Approaches to Property in Human Tissue, Ashgate: London, 51-64

Corrigan, O and R Tutton (2009) 'Biobanks and the Challenges of Governance, Legitimacy and Benefit' in P. Atkinson, P Glasner and M Lock (eds), Handbook of Genetics and Society: Mapping the New Genomic Era, Routledge: London.

Sample, M. and R. Tutton (2008) 'Biobank as biographical disruption: conversations on some first person reflections', Medical Sociology Online 3 (2): 15-24

Ellison, G.; R. Tutton, S. M. Outram, P. Martin, R. Ashcroft and A. Smart (2008) 'An interdisciplinary perspective on the impact of genomics on the meaning of "race", and the future role of racial categories in biomedical research' inStaffan Müller-Wille and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger 'Race and Genomics. Old Wine in New Bottles? Documents from a Transdisciplinary Discussion' in NTM Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin) NTM, 16 363-386.

R. Tutton, A. Smart, P. Martin, R. Ashcroft & GTH Ellison (2008) 'Genotyping the Future: Scientists' Expectations of Race/Ethnicity and Genetics After BiDil®', Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 36 (3): 464-470.

Smart, A; R. Tutton, P. Martin, R. Ashcroft, A. Balmer, R. Elliott & G. Ellison (2008) 'Social inclusivity versus analytical acuity? A qualitative study of UK researchers regarding the inclusion of minority racial/ethnic groups in biobanks', Medical Law International 9 (2): 169-90

Tutton, R. (2008) 'Biobanks the biopolitics of inclusion and representation' in H Gottweis and A Petersen (eds) Biobanks: Governance in Comparative Perspective: 159-176 (London: Routledge)

Smart, A. Tutton, R.; G. T. H. Ellison, P. Martin and R. Ashcroft (2008) 'The Standardization of Race and Ethnicity in Journal Editorials and UK Biobanks', Social Studies of Science, 38 (3): 407-423

Ellison GTH; A Smart, R Tutton, S M Outram, R Ashcroft and P Martin (2007) Racial Categories in Medicine: A Failure of Evidence-Based Practice? PLoS Medicine 4(9): e287

Tutton, R. (2007) 'Banking expectations: reflections on the promises of biobanks' Personalised Medicine 4 (4): 463-469.

Tutton, R. (2007) 'Opening the White Box: Exploring the Study of Whiteness in Contemporary Genetics Research', Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30 (4): 557-569

Tutton, R. (2007) 'Constructing Participation in Genetic Databases: Citizenship, Governance and Ambivalence in UK Biobank', Science, Technology and Human Values 32 (2): 172-195

Kerr, A.; S. Cunningham-Burley and R. Tutton (2007) 'Exploring Ambivalence about Genetic Research and its Social Context', Social Theory and Health, 5 (1): 53-69

Kerr, A.; S. Cunningham-Burley and R. Tutton (2007) 'Shifting Subject Positions: Experts and Lay People in Public Dialogue', Social Studies of Science, 37 (3): 385-411

Smart, A.; R. Tutton, R. Ashcroft, P. Martin and G.T.H. Ellison (2006) 'Can Science alone improve the Measurement and Communication of Race and Ethnicity in Genetic Research? Exploring the Strategies proposed by Nature Genetics', BioSocieties 1 (3): 307-18

Corrigan, O. and R. Tutton (2006) 'What's in a Name? Subjects, Volunteers, Participants and Activists in Clinical Research' Clinical Ethics, 1 (2): 101-104

Tutton, R. and O. Corrigan (2004) (editors) Genetic Databases : Socio-Ethical Issues in the Collection and Use of DNA, London: Routledge.

Tutton, R.; J. Kaye and K. Hoeyer (2004) 'Governing UK Biobank: The Importance of Ensuring Public Trust,' Trends in Biotechnology, 22 (6): 284-5.

Tutton, R. (2004) "They Want to Know Where They Came From": Population Genetics, Identity, and Family Genealogy', New Genetics and Society, 23 (1): 105-120

Tutton, R. (2002) '"Gift Relationships" in Genetics Research', Science as Culture, 11 (4): 523-542>

Eprints Publications Repository and Bibliographic Database

Richard Tutton has 5 selected publication records listed on this webpage. Use links to access abstracts and full text where available. View all records to sort by date, type and title. For all ePrints records go to http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk

Associated Keywords: Biopolitics, Ethnicity, Genetics, Genomics, Identity, Identity politics, Race, Science and technology studies

View all research activities, ePrints, news and events associated with Richard Tutton.

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