School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2022 Jun 29;44(3):30. doi: 10.1007/s40656-022-00510-1.
The global distribution of laboratory mouse strains is valued for ensuring the continuity, validity and accessibility of model organisms. Mouse strains are therefore assumed mobile and able to travel. We draw on the concept of 'animal mobilities' (Hodgetts and Lorimer 2019) to explain how attending to laboratory mice as living animal, commodity and scientific tool is shaping how they are transported through contemporary scientific infrastructures and communities. Our paper is framed around exploring how animal strains travel, rather than animals, as we show that it is only through understanding strain mobility that we can explain how and why live animal movement can be replaced by germinal products. The research is based on qualitative fieldwork in 2018 and 2019 that included 2 weeks ethnography and interviews with key informants involved in the movement of laboratory animals. The empirical analysis discusses practices that relate to managing biosecurity and animal welfare concerns when moving laboratory animal strains. In closing we reflect more broadly on the contemporary 'ethico-onto-epistemological' (Barad, 2014) entanglement that shapes who or what travels to support laboratory science data-making practices, and the intensity of care 'tinkering' practices (Mol and Law 2010) that facilitate the movement. We explain how a laboratory animal strain exceeds its value solely as a mobile and thus exchangeable commodity, illustrated in how values that relate to animal sentience and infection-risk supports its material transformation. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly common for non-sentient germinal products - embryos and gametes - to replace live sentient animals when being moved.
实验室鼠种的全球分布对于确保模式生物的连续性、有效性和可及性具有重要价值。因此，人们认为鼠种是可移动的，可以进行运输。我们借鉴了“动物流动性”（Hodgetts 和 Lorimer，2019）的概念，来解释如何将实验室老鼠视为活体动物、商品和科学工具，这正在塑造它们在当代科学基础设施和社区中的运输方式。我们的论文围绕着探索实验室鼠种的流动方式展开，而不是关注动物本身，因为我们表明，只有通过理解品系的流动性，我们才能解释为什么活体动物的移动可以被生殖产物所取代。这项研究基于 2018 年和 2019 年的定性实地调查，包括 2 周的民族志和对涉及实验室动物流动的关键信息提供者的访谈。实证分析讨论了在管理生物安全和动物福利问题时，与实验室动物品系运输相关的实践。最后，我们更广泛地反思了当代的“伦理-本体-认识论”（Barad，2014）纠缠，这种纠缠塑造了谁或什么可以前往支持实验室科学数据生成实践，以及促进这种移动的“关怀”（tinkering）实践的强度（Mol 和 Law，2010）。我们解释了实验室鼠种如何仅因其可移动性和可交换性而超出其价值，这体现在与动物意识和感染风险相关的价值如何支持其物质转化。因此，当进行运输时，非有感知力的生殖产物——胚胎和配子——越来越常见地取代有感知力的活体动物。
