Between tradition and innovation in new genetics: the continuity of medical pedigrees and the development of combination work in the case of Huntington's disease

An extensive discussion is currently under way regarding the novelty of the 'new genetics'. Although a linear model of innovation shows the new genetics as a technology transfer from biology to medicine, an intersection model suggests the new genetics as a bi-dialectical exchange between biology and medicine. The purpose of this paper is to articulate the role of clinical tools from the viewpoint of an intersection model. This paper traces how medical pedigrees (i.e. visual tools used to transcribe family information) have been standardized by genetic counsellors in clinical settings, and subsequently combined with other biomedical inscriptions. The findings demonstrate that development of new genetics was facilitated not only by the introduction of molecular technologies, but also by their use in combination with medical pedigrees. In this manner, clinical practitioners, laboratory workers and lay support group members have collaborated in order to mobilize genealogical information and organic materials as biomedical properties.