EGENIS seminar: "Webs of reference: how genomics helps us appreciate the scaffolding of data, knowledge and translation in the life sciences", Dr James Lowe (University of Edinburgh)

In this seminar, I show how examinations of the historical trajectories of genomics across multiple species have enabled us to differentiate and historicise: key objects and products of genomics; the relationship of particular species-specific scientific communities to genomic sequencing; and the periodisations and trajectories of genomic endeavours. As it has matured, genomics has manifested a plethora of objects, tools and resources with varying affordances and limitations across many species. Starting with reference genomes – standard DNA sequences for given species linked to other forms of biological data in informatics infrastructures – I outline how webs of linked standards and resources constitute substrates for multiple scientific and practical endeavours. The ways in which these webs ramify and reticulate enable new appreciation of the different facets of the scaffolding of data, knowledge and translation by researchers and institutions across the life sciences.