The Dissemination, Standardization and Routinization of a Molecular Biological Technique

Abstract

The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a molecular biological technique for `amplifying' selected DNA sequences. In the decade after its invention, PCR has worked its way into numerous fields of practice. It was one of the DNA-profiling techniques which were subjected to detailed, critical scrutiny during the OJ Simpson trial. In this paper we `follow the technique around' to investigate how PCR is adapted to different circumstances in science, medicine, industry and criminal forensics. We examine how PCR adapted in different organizational contexts, and we also treat it as a cultural object in its own right. Interviews with staff scientists, managers, technicians, forensic case workers and others involved in the design and use of PCR indicate that this named and patented technique is both a stabilized artefact with standard uses in many circumstances of production, and a highly flexible and often problematic procedure. The paper explores the material and organizational contingencies which in some times and places give PCR impressive stability and industrial strength, and in others subvert its standardized and commercialized identity.