Making the microbiome public

Participatory experiments with DNA sequencing in domestic kitchens

Bibliographic Data

ID8964239
AuthorsJamie Lorimer (0000-0003-4369-0884, School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford UK, corresponding author), Timothy Hodgetts (0000-0001-6633-8942, School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford UK), Richard Grenyer (School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford UK), Beth Greenhough (0000-0002-7351-2619, School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford UK), C Mcleod (0000-0003-2005-3778, University of Oxford), Andrew C Dwyer (0000-0003-2207-6834, University of Oxford), Andrew Dwyer (0000-0002-7023-6794, School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford UK)
Year2019
Volume44
Issue3
Pages524-541
Publication date2019-03-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tran.12289
OpenAlexW2918322920
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited63

Recent rapid increases in the capability and affordability of DNA sequencing have enabled scientists to map the microbiome and to identify its associations with a range of health conditions. Concerns are growing that missing microbes might be behind the current rise in inflammatory disease. Microbial absence and dysbiosis have been linked to a range of hygiene practices, fuelling popular anxiety and confusion about being both too clean and the risk of superbugs. A growing number of microbiology projects allow some publics to engage with DNA sequencing, and enable DIY experiments in microbiome management. Advocates promote this as the democratisation of sequencing. This paper outlines a new methodology for making the microbiome public, and explores the potential of thinking with microbes for social science research. It reports on an interdisciplinary research project, in which a small number of households in Oxford designed and conducted repeated experiments on their kitchen microbiome. These experiments explored the composition of the microbiome and the effects of different hygiene practices. The analysis identifies two challenges of public microbiome research: the mismatch between a vernacular species ontology and the ecological understanding of the microbiome, and the difficulties posed by scientific uncertainty. The reported methodology was able to engage publics in the design and interpretation of experiments, and to work with the surprises generated by open research. Thinking with microbes as ecologies revealed the tensions between an antibiotic and a probiotic approach to domestic hygiene. Public microbiome research needs new metaphors and visualisation tools, and an awareness of the political economic and epistemic barriers that will configure the promised democratisation of sequencing. The conclusion calls for further interdisciplinary and participatory microbiome research to guide the emergence of this new technology

Biology · Citizen science · Microbiome · Political science · Public engagement · Public relations · Genetics · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Gut microbiota and health · Zoonotic diseases and public health

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