Scheffler Robin Wolfe
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 136 Irving Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2014 Dec;48 Pt B:185-8. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2014.09.004. Epub 2014 Oct 16.
These essays in this special issue follow cancer viruses as a means of better understanding the history of biomedicine. Spanning the worlds of chronic and infectious disease research, the history of cancer viruses touches upon an enormous diversity of settings and scientific disciplines. Cancer viruses appeared during the twentieth century as vaccine targets, vaccine contaminants, laboratory anomalies, and tools for molecular biology. Rather than picking one discipline or setting to privilege above others, this issue suggests what can be learned, not only about cancer viruses but also about the character of modern biomedicine, from following these viruses through their different historical trajectories.
本期特刊中的这些文章以癌症病毒为切入点，旨在更好地理解生物医学的历史。癌症病毒的历史跨越了慢性疾病和传染病研究领域，涉及到极为多样的背景和科学学科。在二十世纪，癌症病毒作为疫苗靶点、疫苗污染物、实验室异常现象以及分子生物学工具出现。本期特刊并非侧重于某一学科或背景而忽视其他，而是通过追溯这些病毒不同的历史轨迹，揭示我们不仅能从中学到有关癌症病毒的知识，还能了解现代生物医学的特点。
