The Social Construction of Disease Book

List of illustrations     xii
Preface     xiv
Acknowledgements     xv
List of abbreviations     xviii
Introduction     1
Prion and scrapie     1
Social construction of disease     4
Scrapie in Britain, 1730-1960: a brief overview     11
Introduction     11
The first prevalence of scrapie in Britain, 1730-1820     12
The first veterinarian investigation into scrapie     17
Institutionalisation of scrapie research     20
The USDA research project in Edinburgh and Compton     24
Is scrapie genetic or infectious?     27
Summary     29
Genetic research in Edinburgh, 1964-1979     31
Introduction     31
Developing a standardised experimental system     32
Demonstrating strain variation in scrapie     34
Identifying a gene, Sinc     37
The gene action with different strains of scrapie agent     39
Eliminating involvement of other genes     42
The replication site theory     44
Summary     49
Radiobiological research at Compton, 1964-1978     50
Introduction     50
Tikvah Alperand radiobiology     51
Alper's radiobiological experiments with scrapie (1964-1969)     53
Building hypotheses to explain results: the 1967 gold rush     59
Radiobiological evidence in support of the membrane theory     61
Summary     63
How controversy ends: disputes on the nature of scrapie, 1967-1980     65
Introduction     65
Scrapie research and the wider biological community     66
Institutional culture     70
Cultural divergence and scientific disagreement     77
Closure of the controversy: administrative intervention     79
How controversy ends     83
Conclusion     87
American research trends: unconventional slow viruses, 1957-1980     89
Introduction     89
American pathway of research into scrapie-like diseases     90
Slow-virus research laboratories in America     92
Research trends in the 1970s     100
Conclusion     105
Formulating the prion hypothesis: Stanley Prusiner's work, 1972-1982     107
Introduction     107
Setting up a collaboration with the RML     108
Isolating the agent: sedimentation profile     111
The hydrophobic character of the scrapie agent     113
The end of the RML collaboration and methodological innovation     115
Biochemical investigations     121
Summary     126
Prion controversy, 1982-1997     127
Years of upheaval     127
Dispute between the prion-group and prion-sceptics     130
Winner takes all     147
Molecularisation of prion disease     155
Introduction     155
Divergent styles of research programme     156
Material circumstances     162
The social order of research     164
Different strategies for persuasion     171
Prusiner joins the molecular biological bandwagon     177
Linkage of prion to social networks     181
Conclusion     183
Conclusions     185
How scientists defined and redefined the nature of scrapie     185
How social circumstances played a role in defining the nature of scrapie     187
Epilogue     189
Notes     192
Bibliography     202
Index     249