Latent life: Concepts and practices of human tissue preservation in the International Biological Program

Abstract

Before the rise of DNA sequence analysis or the controversies over

Unfolding epidemiological stories: How the WHO made frozen blood into a flexible resource for the future

“…The scientists associated with this section, christened with the ambiguous title of "Human Adaptability," were keen to apply the techniques of population genetics to human communities on a large scale. They agreed that the blood of so-called endangered and primitive humans was particularly well suited for an international stocktaking project concerned with human heredity and variation (Radin, 2013).…”

“…Damon was a physician and his team included several others who treated illnesses as they were encountered. Blood would be collected at the end of a health survey consisting of anthropometric measurements, dental casts, fingerprints, and sometimes photographsdall key mid-twentieth century technologies for assessing genetic variation (Radin, 2013). It was this kind of study that had led to the collection of the samples that were, decades later, used to detect the origins of HIV-1.…”

“…During the Cold War, scientists in a range of fields recognized that technologies of cold storagedlike mechanical refrigerators, freezers, dry ice and liquid nitrogendwould allow for the stockpiling of variable bits of bodies (Landecker, 2005;Parry, 2004;Radin, 2013). The ability to freeze otherwise ephemeral samples of serum, the liquid component of blood helped mid-twentieth century scientists to imagine and use those samples as a resource for the future.…”

Human heredity after 1945: Moving populations centre stage

“…Some researchers believed that 'parental' or ancestrally 'pure' populationsdsuch as the Basques and Sami, which had supposedly remained unmixed for thousands of yearsdcould give access to the evolutionary and migrationary history of Homo sapiens; only once data on those populations were collected would researchers understand population structure sufficiently to probe more subtle questions. Joanna Radin has shown how Cold War anxieties about the future of human adaptability in a scenario of nuclear war, were used to justify the study of 'primitives,' characterised as unique portals to a pre-technological age (Radin, 2013). The study of populations 'marked as vulnerable or closer to nature' became vital 'salvage' work, relevant to reflections on the maintenance of the future health and adaptive potential of the species.…”

Patrons of the Human Experience

“…Physical anthropology attracted historical attention because of relationships to race theory and connections to public health, nationalism, epidemiology, blood groups, eugenics, genetics, and the rise of molecular biology (Anderson 2003;Braun and Hammonds 2008;Duster 2003;Fabian 2010;Gannett 2001;Goodman, Heath, and Lindee 2003;Kevles 1986;Lindee and Santos 2012;Lipphardt 2010;Marks 1995Marks , 2002Paul 1995;Radin 2013;Reardon 2005;Schneider 1996;Sommer 2010;Stepan 1982;Wailoo, Nelson, and Lee 2012). In quantitative terms, however, the biologically oriented subfields are a minority.…”