The assessment of interdisciplinary research in the 1930s: The Rockefeller foundation and physico-chemical morphology

Abir-Am, Pnina G.

doi:10.1007/bf01096694

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As Yoxen (38) has shown, the project to characterize the organizer molecule had by this time become untenable because of the non specificity of inducers. Moreover, the departmental politics at Cambridge University stopped the Rockefeller Foundation from continuing its support of the project (39). That same year, using Rockefeller Foundation support, Waddington traveled to the United States.…”

Section: The Chemistry Of the Organizer: Sterols And Sterilitymentioning

confidence: 94%

Induction and the Origins of Developmental Genetics

Gilbert

1991

A Conceptual History of Modern Embryology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: The Chemistry Of the Organizer: Sterols And Sterilitymentioning

confidence: 94%

Induction and the Origins of Developmental Genetics

Gilbert

1991

A Conceptual History of Modern Embryology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In parallel, he visited Spemann's and Mangold's laboratories to learn the techniques for experimenting with amphibians, familiarizing himself with both the theoretical and empirical aspects of their field of research (Waddington et al, 1936, p. 174;Yoxen, 1986). Needham and Waddington shared an interest in embryology and more broadly, an interest in explaining the organization in biological systems, and in 1932, they teamed up with theoretical biologist Joseph H. Woodger, Bernal and mathematician Dorothy Wrinch to establish a forum (known as the ''Theoretical Biology Club'') for discussing these problems (Abir-Am, 1987. It was around that time that Needham proposed the biochemical quest, and Waddington, ready with the needed biological knowledge and technique, joined and became co-leader of the organizer research (Waddington, 1932).…”

Section: Sterols and Inductorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rosenheim advised him from an early stage of his career (Rosenheim, 1923). Bernal shared Needham's biological and political interests (Werskey, 1978;Abir-Am, 1987). Solly Zuckerman and Bertold P. Wiesner, who studied hormonal influences on sexual differentiation and behavior, became his acquaintances (Zuckerman, 1932;Weisner, 1933;Needham, 1938a).…”

Section: Sterols and Inductorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Viktor Hamburger and Tim Horder claim that failure to locate a specific factor and recognition of the complex process of neural-tube formation led embryologists to focus on the reacting tissue rather than the inducing stimuli (Hamburger, 1988;Horder, 2001). Donna Haraway and Pnina Abir-Am counted Needham and Waddington among researchers who aimed at explaining embryonic development mechanistically but in a non-reductive manner, yet as following an organicist approach which was soon abandoned (Haraway, 1976;Abir-Am, 1987, 1991. Needham is cited as a leading figure among those who participated in the so-called ''gold-rush'' for finding the secret mechanism of induction, attempting to obtain -but finally relinquishing -a chemical explanation to the phenomena.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Between Biochemists and Embryologists – The Biochemical Study of Embryonic Induction in the 1930s

Armon

2010

J Hist Biol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The discovery by Hans Spemann of the "organizer" tissue and its ability to induce the formation of the amphibian embryo's neural tube inspired leading embryologists to attempt to elucidate embryonic inductions' underlying mechanism. Joseph Needham, who during the 1930s conducted research in biochemical embryology, proposed that embryonic induction is mediated by a specific chemical entity embedded in the inducing tissue, surmising that chemical to be a hormone of sterol-like structure. Along with embryologist Conrad H. Waddington, they conducted research aimed at the isolation and functional characterization of the underlying agent. As historians clearly pointed out, embryologists came to question Needham's biochemical approach; he failed to locate the hormone he sought and eventually abandoned his quest. Yet, this study finds that the difficulties he ran into resulted primarily from the limited conditions for conducting his experiments at his institute. In addition, Needham's research reflected the interests of leading biochemists in hormone and cancer research, because it offered novel theoretical models and experimental methods for engaging with the function of the hormones and carcinogens they isolated. Needham and Waddington were deterred neither by the mounting challenges nor by the limited experimental infrastructure. Like their colleagues in hormone and cancer research, they anticipated difficulties in attempting to establish causal links between complex biological phenomena and simple chemical triggering.

show abstract

“…In 1936, he and Joseph Needham attempted to establish an interdisciplinary center at Cambridge University to look at the biochemistry and genetics of development. The Rockefeller Foundation was willing to partially underwrite this center for "physico-chemical morphology", but the proposal was turned down by Cambridge University which felt that the money would better go to the existing groups in physiology and anatomy (Abir-Am 1988). When the proposal was modified for a site at the Strangeways Laboratories, many of the embryologists polled by the Rockefeller Foundation were suspicious of attempts to integrate embryology with chemical disciplines.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Epigenetic landscaping: Waddington's use of cell fate bifurcation diagrams

Gilbert

1991

Biol Philos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

From the 1930s through the 1970s, C. H. Waddington attempted to reunite genetics, embryology, and evolution. One of the means to effect this synthesis was his model of the epigenetic landscape. This image originally recast genetic data in terms of embryological diagrams and was used to show the identity of genes and inducers and to suggest the simiarifies between embryological and genetic approaches to development. Later, the image became more complex and integrated gene activity and mutations. These revised epigenetic landscapes presented an image of how mutations could alter developmental pathways to yield larger phenotypic changes. These diagrams became less important as the operon became used to model differential gene regulation.KEY WORDS: Epigenetic landscape, synthesis of evolution, genetics and development, Waddington. THE CONTEXT OF SYNTHESISDevelopmental biology is presently negotiating a synthesis between genetics, evolutionary biology, and embryology. On the one hand, there is the possibility that developmental biology will be taken over by molecular genetics. On the other hand, there is renewed interest in the developmental mechanisms that cause evolutionary changes in morphology. Developmental biology, seen as the study of how the inherited potentials become transformed into a changing organismal phenotype, must mediate between them. The result might be a synthesis that integrates these three disciplines of biology into one conceptual framework and is able to provide an integrated account for macroevolutionary events. Although this synthesis of evolution, embryology, and genetics is presently being worked out, ours is not the first attempt to do so. Earlier in the century, Richard Goldschmidt, E. E. Just, L. C. Dunn, and Julian Huxley, each had attempted to unite these disciplines into one conceptual framework. The person who probably went the furthest in forging such a synthesis was Conrad Hal Waddington whose work from 1936 to 1960 will be discussed here.Negotiations among such disciplines, both then and now, are performed on several levels. First, there is the conceptual dimension in that the genes can only make RNA and proteins. They do not, of themselves, make an organism.

show abstract

The assessment of interdisciplinary research in the 1930s: The Rockefeller foundation and physico-chemical morphology

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Induction and the Origins of Developmental Genetics

Induction and the Origins of Developmental Genetics

Between Biochemists and Embryologists – The Biochemical Study of Embryonic Induction in the 1930s

Epigenetic landscaping: Waddington's use of cell fate bifurcation diagrams

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About