10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17415
In this contribution we explore novel, different ways of promoting public engagement in biomedical research using biobanks. Starting from a discussion about the limits of traditional formal procedures of engaging participants in biobanking activities, the contribution proposes two approaches to public involvement that use the Science Museum as an agora for communicating and representing the complex scientific, societal and ethical issues involved in contemporary biomedical research. The role of museum exhibitions, metaphors and languages of art and theater, as well as other forms of dialogues, are discussed as a way of shaping popular imaginaries about scientific research, in order to complement mechanisms of public engagement with novel forms of stimulating public understanding of scientific research using tissues and genomic data.
application/pdf
2038-3460
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Ilaria Ampollini
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
public engagement
Beyond the Formal Mechanisms of Public Engagement. Communicating Biobanking Research with Other Means
Text.Serial.Journal
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/
9
Crossing Boundaries
2019-01-31
2023-06-25
2019-01-31
2023-08-31
159-180
TS
Ilaria Ampollini
2018
10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17415
159
University of Trento
2038-3460
2
public engagement
en
180
Beyond the Formal Mechanisms of Public Engagement. Communicating Biobanking Research with Other Means
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/article/download/17415/16270
9
                                                                Crossing Boundaries

Beyond the Formal Mechanisms of
Public Engagement
Communicating Biobanking Research with Other Means

Lorenzo Beltrame                         Lucia Martinelli       Ilaria Ampollini
     University of Trento                         MUSE Trento     University of Trento


    Abstract: In this contribution we explore novel, different ways of promot-
    ing public engagement in biomedical research using biobanks. Starting from a
    discussion about the limits of traditional formal procedures of engaging par-
    ticipants in biobanking activities, the contribution proposes two approaches
    to public involvement that use the Science Museum as an agora for com-
    municating and representing the complex scientific, societal and ethical issues
    involved in contemporary biomedical research. The role of museum exhibi-
    tions, metaphors and languages of art and theater, as well as other forms of
    dialogues, are discussed as a way of shaping popular imaginaries about scien-
    tific research, in order to complement mechanisms of public engagement
    with novel forms of stimulating public understanding of scientific research us-
    ing tissues and genomic data.

    Keywords: science museum; art, theater; dialogues; biobanks; public en-
    gagement.

    Corresponding author: Lorenzo Beltrame, Department of Sociology and
    Social Research, University of Trento, Via Verdi 26, 38122 Trento, Italy.
    Email: lorenzo.beltrame@unitn.it




Introduction

Lorenzo Beltrame

    Issues related to participation are, likely, the most debated in STS lit-
erature on biobanking. In fact, biobanks rely on the willingness of volun-
teers to donate tissues and to give access to their medical, genealogical
and lifestyle data. The provision of tissues and bioinformation clearly in-
volves issues of privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, ownership,
benefit-sharing and commercial exploitation (Hoeyer 2008). As noted by
Tutton (2004, 19) the willingness to freely give samples and personal in-
TECNOSCIENZA
Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
9 (2) pp. 159-180 - ISSN 2038-3460
www.tecnoscienza.net                                     2018
160                                                          Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

formation has been promoted by medical institutions by emphasizing ide-
als of social solidarity and personal altruism, the common purpose of im-
proving human health through research and by resorting to powerful dis-
courses of gift and ‘gift-giving’. But, as Hoeyer (2008) remarked, the wide
plethora of social and ethical issues has been dealt mainly with the same
organizational solution, that is the informed consent.
    Informed consent is considered a sort of technology of neoliberal gov-
ernmentality, which produces the donating subject as an empowered, au-
tonomous citizen who makes choices based on risk-benefit calculations,
who is oriented to the fulfilling of her/his wellbeing and endowed with
the right and duty to participate (Corrigan 2004; Hoeyer 2004; Tutton
2007). Even if it is largely still in use, however, the mechanism of in-
formed consent is under criticism by STS and bioethics scholars.
    First, its predominant focus on individual rights has been called into
question. The so-called ‘communitarian turn’ in bioethics (Chadwick and
Berg 2001; Knoppers and Chadwick 2005) has highlighted how this jurid-
ical mechanism is insufficient to deal with the collective nature of benefits
and risks involved in biobanking research, by claiming the need to devel-
op mechanisms to deal with ethical principles locating at the level of
community and/or groups such as reciprocity, mutuality, equity and soli-
darity.
    Second, the strong opposition to the Icelandic biobanking initiative –
promoted by family doctors, the Icelandic Medical Association and
Mannvernd (the Association of Icelanders for Ethics in Science and Med-
icine see Pálsson 2008) – showed the need to adopt more participative
approaches to ethical oversight. Mechanisms of broad consent, in which
participants are given information about the wide range of aims and ob-
jectives of biobanking research, have been implemented resorting to
forms of public consultation through focus groups and other forms of
participative ethical oversight (Corrigan and Tutton 2009).
    Public engagement is thus the key word for assuring legitimacy in bi-
obanking participation, even if the concrete strategies for enabling en-
gagement vary a lot across different initiatives (Tupasela et al. 2015). As
noted by Weldon (2004), several public engagement mechanisms are in-
spired by a logic of promoting scientific citizenship (Irwin 1995) by in-
volving participants in dialogues, consultations and in participatory fo-
rums of decision-making. Indeed, a scientific citizen is not simply one ful-
ly informed, but is one who has to be made able to negotiate and influ-
ence policy decisions and research projects.
    However, STS scholars are also aware of some limits of the participa-
tory tools adopted in formal mechanisms of public engagement.
McNamara and Petersen (2008), for example, have shown how these
mechanisms are not neutral tools, but reflect – and work according to –
assumptions about those who are to be engaged, shaping thus their par-
ticipation toward forms of ethical oversight which have little substantial
impact on issues of ownership, access and broad public benefit. Weldon
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                        161
(2004) has discussed how public consultations are often weak in giving
participants a real opportunity to influence the direction of research or to
exert a true civic agency on the claimed wider societal issues (such as
what counts as the common good). In fact, these mechanisms are sus-
pected to be mainly oriented to channel participation toward a more
readily provision of samples than toward an effective partnership in bi-
obanks governance (Tutton 2007; Cañada et al. 2015).
    Several researches have shown how often participants in biobanks can
be uninterested in being informed and in active participation, while they
donate just out of altruism through consolidated institutional practices of
trusted organizations (Busby 2004; Busby and Martin 2006; Tutton
2007). Hoeyer (2004, 100-1) have brilliantly demonstrated, by interview-
ing biobanks participants, how uncertainties, worries and vague, inaccu-
rate if not wrong understandings of the aims and scopes of the research
outcomes characterize participants. Notwithstanding informed, partici-
pating donors appeared affected by an imaginary of cloning, eugenics,
“designer babies” and genetic manipulation, largely shaped by mass me-
dia and other popular representations of science.
    This has raised the main questions addressed in this contribution: how
to promote effective forms of public engagement without making partici-
pants fully aware of the real aims and scope of scientific research? Is it
possible to conceive forms of engagement in lack of a public understand-
ing of what biobank research is currently doing? How to communicate
the implications of biobanking research using languages more apt to the
familiar popular imaginaries of science? What are the spaces, beyond the
formal sites of public engagement in biobanking, to promote a public un-
derstanding of scientific research?
    In the following interview, Lucia Martinelli explains how the science
museum and the theater can be considered possible agoras to explore
forms of public engagement with genomic research using the languages of
museum exhibition, theater and art. Lucia Martinelli has been responsi-
ble of the curatorship of the 2018 temporary exhibition ‘The Human Ge-
nome. What makes us unique’ at MUSE the Science Museum of Trento
(Italy). As she argues, this exhibition devotes a large part to the explora-
tion of the implications of genomic research both through direct to con-
sumer (DTC) genetic test and through biobanking. And she illustrates
how to communicate the social, cultural and ethical issues related to these
technologies using metaphors and the language of art and exhibition. She
has also a long experience in interacting with theatrical artists with whom
she narrated the social implications of contemporary biomedical innova-
tions. Lucia Martinelli’s professional career is exemplary of the search of
new ways of engaging the public, involving it and promoting public un-
derstanding of science. Formed as a biotechnologist, Martinelli progres-
sively moved to STS, to become finally a science communicator using the
science museum and the theater as means to vehiculate engagement and
public understanding of lay people, by offering narratives of the complex
162                                                           Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

issues rotating around current biomedicine and biotechnology that reso-
nate with shared and familiar imaginaries. Her contribution shows how to
promote a different understanding of the aims, scopes, potentialities and
perils of modern biomedical research, how to conceive the museum as an
important agora to involve people and, then, to complement formal
mechanisms of public engagement in citizens’ participation to biomedical
research.
    The topic of alternative spaces to enable people to explore the mean-
ing and the implication of contemporary biomedicine is discussed also by
the science historian Ilaria Ampollini. She discusses the substantial lack of
public engagement mechanisms in biomedical research in the Italian con-
text. Then, she presents the program CLaSTer. How Science Works. Dia-
logues between University and the Region (CLaSTer. Come Lavora la
Scienza. Dialoghi tra Università e Territorio). It is a local project aimed at
enhancing collaboration and dialogue between University and research
institutes, the Province Health System, healthcare professionals and,
above all, patients, patients’ families and patient associations. This project
is largely based on public dialogues with citizens representatives, and is
hosted by the MUSE – Science Museum – complementing the exhibition
on Human Genome as a way of exploring multiple languages of commu-
nication. The local setting allows, indeed, to coordinate the work of the
local University Department of Biomolecular Sciences, the Department of
Sociology and Social Research, the Province of Trento Health System
(with its Trentino BioBank and the Clinical Service for Medical Genetics)
in order to develop a wide-scope program of public engagement.
    The fact that both the experiences discussed by Lucia Martinelli and
Ilaria Ampollini have a local setting should not be considered a limit. On
the contrary, what has been argued in this Special Issue is that participa-
tion has to be conceived and studied as the outcome of concrete practices
enacted by actors involved in situated institutional settings. What these
contributions add to the analyses presented in the original research arti-
cles, is the need of complementing both the interactions between actors
and the formal mechanisms of engagement with novel forms of dialogue
and communication, in order to promote a better understanding of the
aims, scopes, implications and issues involved in biomedical research us-
ing biobanks. The experiences and examples presented by Lucia Marti-
nelli and Ilaria Ampollini, clearly show how exploring popular imagi-
naries and communicating biomedical research with the languages of art,
theater and museum exhibitions can play an important part in solving un-
certainties and in promoting the voices of common, lay people who de-
cide to participate in biomedical research.


                                     ***
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                         163
The Science Museum as an Agora for Public Engagement in
Research Using Biobanking

Lucia Martinelli (interviewed by Lorenzo Beltrame)

Can you tell me the path that led a biotechnologist to became an STS
scholar and then to move to explore new languages in communicating bi-
omedical and genomic research?

    My research activity in the field of plant biotechnology started in early
1980s with the internship for the degree thesis on genetics, when the term
“biotechnology" was neither in use. Since then, for three decades, I have
carried out research in industrial and public institutes in Italy and abroad.
Therefore, I am a witness of the biotech development concerning both
the technoscientific aspects and its growing impact on society (Martinelli
et al. 2013a). If during the 1980s biotech has been regarded as a carrier of
important achievements for humankind, since 2000 it has become an icon
of citizens’ distrust toward science innovations. This shift had a strong
impact on research and led the European Union to launch specific pro-
grams to face the gap between science and society.
    I always like remembering a photograph I have personally taken in
May 2000 in Genoa, during the first Italian major protest of the rising no-
global community against TEBIO, an important conference on biotech-
nology. In this shot, a wall of armed police forces between the scientific
community and the civil society portraits two conflicting visions about
biotechnology whilst it seems to underline the gap between science and
society. Being strongly involved in a controversial field of research, such
as gene transfer (Martinelli and Mandolino 1994) and also interested in
the social and political responsibilities of science, my projects started to
have a multidisciplinary feature, also including humanities and social sci-
ences in the laboratorial activity. This was the case of the OSSERVA31
and EcoGenEtic.Com projects (supported by Trento Autonomous Prov-
ince) where forums of dialogue and tools to manage risks perception
(Martinelli et al. 2006) were experimented.
    Then, since 2011 at MUSE, my main research interest became STS. I
was involved in multidisciplinary networks connecting experts in life sci-
ences, social science, philosophy, bioethics, biolaw and art. In the COST
action “Bio-objects and their boundaries”2, for instance, the products of
biology innovations were analyzed as bio-objects sharing peculiar features
at the intersection of society, politics and science: they promise a better
quality of human life whilst rising controversy, undermine the boundaries
between living/non-living and natural/un-natural/artificial, may result as
“out of place” entities and require specific regulations and communica-
tion. In particular, I focused on contested products of biobanking such as
HeLa cells (Svalastog and Martinelli 2013), animal de-extinction (Marti-
164                                                           Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

nelli et al 2014), gene transfer (Martinelli et al. 2013b; Pavone and Marti-
nelli 2015), and assisted reproduction technologies such as preserved
human eggs (Martinelli et al. 2015) and human embryos (Piciocchi and
Martinelli 2016).
    From theory to practice, in the framework of European projects, at
MUSE we are developing tools for public engagement, based on the view
of a more responsible research and innovation in various fields of bio-
technology, such as synthetic biology (SYNENERGENE project3) and
nanotechnology (NANO2ALL project4).

Usually lay people concerns are dealt with participatory decision making
tools. How did you, instead, explore this issue using the language of exhi-
bition?

    Since public acceptance and legitimacy in decision-making and gov-
ernance of biotechnological and biomedical innovations is a critical issue,
inclusive communication is required. The metaphor of the agora well rep-
resents the mission of cultural institutions to act as elite forums for shared
communication involving the various actors of science. Today, science
museums are recognized as suitable agoras and “safe spaces” where sci-
ence and society can meet and engage in challenging conversations
(Svalastog et al. 2014). In a project concerning assisted reproduction
technologies, for instance, during focus groups at MUSE 5 , par-
ents/potential parents were even surprised about their own comfortable
feeling – as they never experienced before – in revealing their private ex-
periences to the other participants.
    Starting from this open concept, we designed the main 2018 MUSE
temporary exhibition ‘The Human Genome. What makes us unique’. In
particular, in a core section of the exhibition, focused on genetic predis-
positions, we projected a scenography recreating a square where getting
together the knowledge and the experiences of the main actors of the bi-
omedical field in our society: lay people, the scientific community, medi-
cal care professionals and policy makers. During the preliminary brain-
storming it was suggested to place the experts in the center of the square
and, on the border, the lay people, as a metaphor for inviting exhibition
visitors to approach for listening, in intimacy, those personal stories men-
tioned above. Finally, however, we decided to completely reverse the set-
ting. We put lay people at the center of the scenography, to emphasize
their central role and highlight their stories. We recreated a sort of
"speaker corner" where private stories could become public. Video-
interviews to experts, reporting on clinical experience and healthcare pol-
icies, were located at one border of the square, while the center of the ag-
ora is now for some silhouettes giving voice to “common people”. They
narrate “stories-of-everyday-genetics”, inspired by cases reported in the
scientific literature, mass media news and real experiences shared through
the Internet or available on the websites of medical organizations and pa-
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                         165
tients associations. These narratives aim to enhance the understanding of
museum visitors about the impact of new genomic knowledge and appli-
cations on our lives. Moreover, at the exit of ‘The Square’, in an intimate
room, visitors of the exhibition are invited to leave their own stories
about genetic predispositions. We have already collected a great number
of significant narratives about their “everyday genetics”, which are still
under analysis.

In some cases, current genomics is struggling with determinism, both in-
side the laboratory and outside in the wider society, where genetics is of-
ten perceived as an inescapable fate. How did you try to disentangle these
opposed and overlapping perceptions in a Museum exhibition?

    What are the reasons of our physical and psychological traits and of
the talents and diseases recurring in our families? Is it a question of "des-
tiny" marked by inherited genetic predispositions, or can personal op-
tions, responsibilities and experiences shape us? In genetic studies, the
interaction between genotypes and environmental factors is a very im-
portant aspect of the phenotypic variability. The “nature versus nurture”
relation to explain our traits and how we “function” has been object of
countless studies, favoring alternatively one or the other component. This
question also involves sensitive personal and social issues, as for instance
in the case of complex traits associated with behavioral disorders related
to psychic and social distress.
    Already more than 2400 years ago, to explain the athletics excellence
Hippocrates analyzed personal predisposition, exercise, nutrition, age,
geographical origin, time of the year and also changes in wind and cli-
mate, finally considering the hereditary component as a major factor. This
issue is still nowadays a hot research topic of International networks of
sport medicine. The scientific literature of the last 200 years reports
countless studies based on twinship aimed to associate genetic variability
to specific genes or to the interactions between the same genes and differ-
ent environments. One of the most original research is the recent “Twin
Study” in the framework of the NASA Human Research Program which
is analyzing the data collected from two identical twin astronauts, the one
spending one year in the space and the other remaining on the Earth6.
    At the end of the 1990s, when the Human Genome project was
launched, the scientific community was strongly divided: a vision consid-
ered the gene as the central matter, the other pointed out the need to ex-
plore more in depth the complex interactions between genes and the con-
text in which they interact and express (Fox Keller 2000). Recently, this
latter approach has become the subject of new attention focusing on epi-
genetics, that is on how experiences, choices, behaviors and many envi-
ronmental factors, including nutrition habits, smoking, pollutants and
stress, have an effect on our DNA through mechanisms of gene regula-
tion. Contrary to expectations (and to opponents’ concerns), the results
166                                                           Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

of Human Genome project questioned the deterministic approach. The
new millennium started with the recognition that we are both the result of
a complex genome, mostly still to be known, and of an intricate interac-
tion between biological events and environmental and social experiences.
Moreover, contemporary genomics knowledge calls even more into ques-
tion the classical definition of the gene.
    This debate is quite fascinating and is also a remarkable example of
how scientific knowledge is more a source of uncertainty than of certain-
ty. This is one of the most difficult aspects to be communicated to the
general public. However, the growing knowledge about the human ge-
nome already applied in several fields, including healthcare. Easily acces-
sible information about our genome, and the availability of markers for
genes involved in important diseases diffuse the awareness of predisposi-
tions that may lead citizens to undertake a deterministic approach toward
their biology. Moreover, results of genetic analyses, in particular concern-
ing health, may be difficult to manage from a psychological point of view,
being linked to mere probabilities (will a predisposition to develop a dis-
ease turn into a disease?), to events related to the future (when will the
“predicted” disease occur?) or to anxiety (how to face diseases without
therapies?). For these peculiarity of genetic analysis, it has been estab-
lished the “right not to know”, to make people able to choose not to
know certain information. On the other hand, according to analysis of
patients’ narratives, the awareness of carrying a genetic predisposition to
a certain disease may produce, in different people, different impacts. Be-
sides anxiety and distress, a feeling of relief from a sense of guilt has also
been noted when the cause of an illness can be assigned to a “sculptured
fate” (of which one is not guilty) rather than to a lifestyle (of which one is
responsible).
    In this framework, in line with a non-deterministic view, the narratives
of texts, multimedia and exhibits of The Human Genome exhibition at
MUSE are meant to stimulate reflections and questions about contempo-
rary genomic knowledge and, moreover, about the knowledge still to be
achieved, rather than feeding visitors with notions and dogmas. Worth
mentioning some examples. Genetic predispositions are constantly pro-
posed as a probability, rather than a fate, to be translated into traits. The
metaphor of the human language, with its “cultural” and “structural” var-
iability, as well as its unknown aspects, is always constant in the various
sections of the exhibition. The four letters of DNA – the chemical bases
of the genetic code – fluctuate in combinations, of which some have
meaning, some not, almost like an ancient language whose alphabet has
been decoded, but whose meaning is still little understood. Similarly to a
puzzle game, genetic mutations are proposed in an interactive game,
where reversing, deleting and duplicating letters and words in a text are
used for producing new meanings or non-senses, signifying genetic muta-
tions. The slogan “it's not just a matter of genes”, repeated like a mantra
in different languages, is the crucial and final message left to visitors. Fi-
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                          167
nally, epigenetics is central, also proposed through an impacting sculp-
ture, which immerses visitors in emotions to feel the interaction between
some environmental and psychological situations and the DNA.

One of the main issues in biobanking is trust. How did you communicate
about the issues of confidentiality and the commercial use of personal and
genetic data?

     In genetic analysis, biobanking regards the storage of both the biolog-
ical samples to extract DNA and data and information generated from
the analysis. These latter are the most intimate part of a person and, what
is specific for the genetic information, even of his/her family and relatives.
This practice may produce the risks of violations of privacy and confiden-
tiality, it could lead to possible discriminations and involves issues of
property rights and of informed consent, concerning bioethics and regu-
lation. A renewed example of privacy violation, faced by a symbolic
agreement between the U.S National Institutes of Health and Lacks Fam-
ily7, was the publication of the genome sequencing of two cell lines deriv-
ing from HeLa cells (Adey et al. 2013; Landry et al. 2013), which could
reveal some hereditary biological information about Henrietta Lacks’ off-
spring.
     Population genomics studies require a huge collection of phenotypic
trait data on health, lifestyles and behaviors and genomic data to study
genetic variability and interaction between genes and environment. Con-
sequently, population databases are indispensable infrastructures for re-
search in the biomedical field, which requires a large number of samples
to process data and obtain statistically significant results. Some popula-
tions, because of their geographical, historical and social isolation, are
precious “genomic blocks” for accomplishing these studies. In the Sar-
dinian Ogliastra region, for instance, the close collaboration between the
local communities and the researchers during the whole SardiNIA pro-
ject, as well as a careful design of informed consent, was considered a vir-
tuous example of wise involvement of volunteers (surpassing 80% of the
population) for sample collection, which resulted in the production of a
huge genetic biobank with samples from 11,700 individuals (Piciocchi et
al. 2018).
     Trust in institutions managing such precious and sensitive data is,
therefore, a main issue. If direct contact with the institutions managing
the biobanks seems to be an important aspect of trust, it is reasonable to
wonder why people turn to the genetic testing offered by private compa-
nies on the Internet. Direct To Consumers (DTC) genetic testing is a mul-
tifaceted product of genomic research intended to extremely varied ap-
plications, from medical to leisure purposes, and bearer of a series of per-
sonal and social meanings. The wide range of tests available includes di-
agnostic tests and tests for predisposition to certain diseases, pharmaco-
genetic tests for responses to pharmacological treatments, nutritional tests
168                                                         Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

focused on diets and obesity, and tests variously oriented to the search for
personal characteristics and talents that go beyond the medical field. The-
se include tests for origins, paternity, athletic talent, affective/amorous
compatibility and even sentimental betrayals and responses to beauty
treatments.
    In literature, DTC genetic testing has been discussed as a symbol of
people empowerment, a means of emancipation from a top-down health
care system, a potential road toward democratization of medicine and
care, but also as a source of concern, complacency or fatalism, a support
of narcissistic approaches to manage (personal) genetic data, an incentive
to misleading use and consume of scientific and medical information, and
finally as a form of lucrative use of a technology (Turrini and Prainsack
2016).
    For these features, in our exhibition on human genome at MUSE, we
regarded DTC genetic tests as an excellent topic to be (re)presented, to
stimulate reflections about crucial questions arising from genomics appli-
cations where scientific, economic, personal, social and legal aspects are
intertwined (see Martinelli and Tomasi 2018). In ‘The genetic test super-
market’ exhibit, we recreated a consumerist setting where visitors can vir-
tually buy the four DTC genetic tests we consider exemplary for this pur-
pose. They are: PATOGEN (“A test to discover your genetic predisposi-
tions to oncological, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases”),
PATERSCREEN (“A reliable test to know who your father is, reunite
relatives or determine rights of inheritance”), GENEOTEST (“A test to
discover your roots and reveal the origin and native land of your ances-
tors”) and GEN&AMOR (“Find your soul mate through modern ge-
nomic analysis”). Prices of tests and narratives to describe and advertise
them were ad hoc studied to resemble the real products sold by the vari-
ous genetic companies through the Internet.
    The core part of this exhibit is based on two self-checkout machines,
with a video-talked interactive multimedia questionnaire for museum visi-
tors, proposed by two animated talking cartoons. The former is the
“salesman”, representing the interests of the biotech companies, and the
latter is the “scholar”, representing the bioethics and bio-law expert. De-
veloped thanks to a cooperation with the BioLaw Project of the Depart-
ment of Law of the University of Trento (Marta Tomasi), the question-
naire is intended to make museum visitors aware about the main issues
concerning DTC genetic testing, i.e. intended use, reliability and accuracy
of the analysis, comprehensibility and competency in interpreting results,
impact of the results in people's understandings, and privacy and regula-
tory frameworks (Martinelli and Tomasi 2018).

In biobanking are involved questions of individual, collective and popula-
tions’ identities. People can develop biosociality and sense of belonging
and, in some cases, forms of collective action. How to deal with these is-
sues in an exhibition?
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                           169


    The knowledge of our own genome seems to deeply involve identity.
In the case of the DTC genome testing, for instance, the analyses are gen-
erally proposed by companies as tools "to know yourself better" (in a sort
of modern, technological “γνῶθι σεαυτ όν” exhortation) and “to build
your own identity”. On the other hand, what do motivate people to un-
dergo a genetic test? According to the few studies investigating on this
question (Harris et al, 2014), motivations are to know health status, to
trace origins, curiosity about a new technology, the desire to be innova-
tive in experimenting a new technology or in participating in the scientific
progress, and just pure leisure. Narcissistic motivations are clear when
tests’ results are shared through social media and YouTube, from sample
collection to result reading and sharing through the web, with videos and
“genetic narratives” full of emotions and expectations. In the narratives
of tests aimed at tracing origins, curiosity, joy and wonder are shown as
people discover a sense of belonging to a group in a new form of “bioso-
ciality” where the genetic information becomes at the same time a per-
sonal and social issue. These tests, in fact, have a big social component,
requiring to be shared through specific Internet sites.
    The perception of belonging to a group is quite important in the cases
of genetic diagnosis for major and rare diseases, which lead patients to
participate (increasingly often through social networks) in disease-specific
mutual-help groups to exchange information and suggestions on treat-
ments, as well as feelings, fears and psychological support to face their
state. In the cases of hereditary pathologies, involving relatives with vari-
ous degree of kinship, there are also involved some ethical issues that can
give rise even to pressing individual and family conflicts, concerning for
instance sense of responsibility/guilt to likely transmitting a disease, pri-
vacy issues and the right to know/not know. This is quite clear when ana-
lyzing the confidences in reliable web sites of patient organizations of
woman carrying the genetic mutations BRCA (Breast Related Cancer An-
tigens), related to breast and ovarian cancer in the female population and
to prostate and breast cancer in the male population. In addition, a sense
of “genetic identity” is quite clear since these patients introduce and refer
themselves as “mutated”, in a sort of identification with their genetic mu-
tation rather than with a person affected by a disease. Here, the descrip-
tion of their self is mostly based on their own biological data. To repre-
sent these issues, in the exhibition on human genome, in the above men-
tioned “square” section, among the personal stories of “common people”
we imagined the story of a young woman and future mother, about to
take the decision to undergo the genetic test for the BRCA mutation, a
test requiring responsibility for herself and for the child she is waiting for.
She is represented right in the moment she knows from a close member
of her family, who already resulted positive to the test, about this family
predisposition and has to face the difficult choice to know/not know
about the chance to carry - or not - this hereditary genetic mutation. Her
170                                                            Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

narrative is meant to give voice to a deep personal conflict as well as to an
advice to prevent/manage the disease thanks to the knowledge about the
(eventual) genetic predisposition.

Commercial exploitation is another big issue in biobanking. People freely
give tissue samples and information as a gift, that could be turned into a
commodity. How to communicate this complex question?

    The biological materials stored in the repositories – as well as the in-
formation processed from them – are goods donated by patients. Being
these essential to the progress of medical research, patients' trust is fun-
damental to implement biobanking. Commercial exploitation of samples
would certainly undermine their trust not only in biobanking but also in
the general accountability of biotechnological and biomedical innova-
tions. Therefore, as already pointed out (Piciocchi et al. 2018) biobanking
is an interesting example of controversial relationship between research
institutions and civil society, which requires transparency and legal regu-
lation. Here, public trust and civic engagement are particularly important
features.
    At MUSE, to deploy suitable communication strategies for science
communication on topics with relevant bioethical and biosocial implica-
tions, we adopted a new format, a kind of science theatre named “science
lecture-performance”, where a science expert and an actor/actress dia-
logue on the stage without losing their specific features and roles.
‘ETERNeETÀ – la vecchiaia può attendere’ [‘ETERNeETÀ - aging can
wait’] was the result of a fertile interaction between the sensitivity of a di-
rector (Elena Marino) and an actress (Silvia Furlan) of the company
Teatrincorso and myself8. Scientific and theatrical texts and artistic repre-
sentations, including projections, multimedia and music, were the tools to
deliver concepts and new insights by reaching the public’s emotions.
    Among the various bio-objects, the case of the immortal HeLa cells
has been an amazing “good story” to be represented, in particular be-
cause of its biosocial implications and symbolic meanings, as previously
discussed (Svalastog and Martinelli 2013). They are emotionally impact-
ing, being invasive and frightening, immortal and of extraordinary value
for science and humanity9, but also an example of fraud and abuse of a
woman of marginalized origins10. Therefore, these cells are suitable to
both deliver knowledge and to engage debates specifically on the topic of
biobanking and in general on the impact of biomedical innovation, also
by reaching the public’s emotions. This latter is an important aspect of
communication. For instance, a very inspiring moment of the perfor-
mance ‘ETERNeETÀ was when the actress rolled up herself in plastic
wrap to be kept in a freezer, in an attempt to “aging without aging” and
to last forever, with an emotional metaphor of her dramatic wish to es-
cape the inexorable fate of biological decay and death. I believe that this
was an interesting example of a successful integration between scientific
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                            171
concepts and theatrical performance.
    With the same company, we staged the performance ‘Vite sintetiche’
[‘Synthetic lives’], a monologue performed by the actress and inspired by
synthetic biology 11 . Topics were the controversies (opportunities and
risks, promises for a best life quality and a sense of disorientation) pro-
duced in the every-day life of a family by various bio-objects, including –
reference to biobanks – the tissues of extinct animals preserved for de-
extinction experiments. In this case, in the refrigerator of a housewife it
was stored a piece of bone of a dinosaur stolen from a science museum
(MUSE) by the youngest son.

Why did you feel the need of using the language of theater and art to
communicate, and how did you interact with artists?

     There are numerous successful experiences in scientific communica-
tion based on art. Art and science show many points of contact. Both are
based on creativity, innovation and a rigorous attitude. Science offers in-
teresting topics to art and results in a fertile source of ideas and meta-
phors. On the other hand, by eliciting emotions, art induces curiosity and
passion.
     As for the scientific theatre, in general, the texts are written by the ar-
tistic counterpart, whilst scientists inspire the topics and validate the ac-
curacy of scientific information. In our intense relation with the company
Teatrincorso, on the contrary, a high interdisciplinary attitude was essen-
tial during the creative brainstorming, text writing and even the participa-
tion on stage in the case of ‘ETERNeETÀ’. Motivation leading scientists
and artists to cooperate has been analyzed (Dowell and Weitkamp 2011).
On the basis of my personal experience, I agree that, in this challenging
relation, the “scientist” should be a person quite motivated to exploit
public engagement, curious about the new experiences that the theater
can offer and open to new forms of communication; the “artist” should
be a person very interested in science and in new ideas and incline to en-
gage with challenging topics. Finally, a science performance would result
successful when it is not distinguishable whether it is science that offers
art subjects to perform or whether art is a vehicle for communicating sci-
entific concepts and opportunities for reflection to the publics.
     Another challenging experience of science-art communication was the
collaboration with Claud Hesse, a visual arts practitioner, known as the
“DNA artist”. For the section focusing on epigenetics of the exhibition
on human genome at MUSE, she specially created ‘DNA EPIGEN’, an
interactive sculpture involving visitors to discover epigenetic concepts. By
causing changes on cubes interacting with a large double helix of DNA,
visitors are invited to experience some epigenetic imprints produced by
the interactions between the genome and the environment (including life
style and stress such as light, darkness, peace, violence, abundance and
famine). In this case, the production of the artwork involved various sub-
172                                                            Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

jects with specific multidisciplinary skills: the artists, the curators and the
architect of the exhibition, the epigeneticists, the manufacturers and the
experts in information and communication technologies and technical
assistance. I believe that the most critical aspect of this science-art experi-
ence was the need to suitably balance the correct scientific presentation of
a complex concept - as epigenetics - with the artist’s creative action for
freely interpreting the topic, to generate a piece of art and not (just) a sci-
entific model.

What people learn from an exhibition on human genome? And why do
you think is important communicating genomic research and biobanking
activities with other means?

    Genomic research and biobanking, because of their importance in the
current science landscape and of their significance on society, are suitable
topics to engage people in reflections about scientific culture. Scientific
exhibitions are particularly suitable sites where presenting hot topics of
science nowadays and reaching different publics of various ages and
backgrounds. In the case of our exhibition on human genome, and in par-
ticular for the hot topic of DTC genetic testing, for instance, we can eval-
uate its effectiveness in engaging a great number of citizens. During nine
months (February 26th – November 27th, 2018) 16,086 people complet-
ed the food-for-thought questionnaire offered in ‘The genetic test super-
market’ exhibit above described. Visitors involvement, moreover, can be
analyzed in the many “stories of everyday-genetics” they are leaving in the
“memory book” in the intimate room –mentioned above – at the exit of
‘The square’ section. According to a preliminary analysis, we can con-
clude that the various inputs we offered resulted in effective stimuli for
reflections on important issues of genomic knowledge, concerning per-
sonality, traits and disease. It has emerged, for instance, the desire – never
felt before – of visitors who were adopted at an early age to start investi-
gating about their biological and geographical origins.
    Finally, aiming at promoting reflections and new questions about sci-
ence rather than offering certainties, in the concluding section of the ex-
hibition we proposed a series of questions about genome – without giving
answers – collected during focus groups with citizens to investigate about
their interests in the topic. Questions as: “Is there is a DNA test to know
the length of someone’s life?”, “Can human genes be put on sale?”, “Do
criminals have a particular ‘killer gene’?”, “Is happiness linked to our
DNA?”, “Are people born gay or do they become so?”. If they might at a
glance appear naïve, conversely they point out important issues about ge-
nome knowledge still waiting for (conclusive) answers.



                                     ***
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                       173
Communicating Genomics Research. Participative Models
in a Local Context

Ilaria Ampollini

    The active involvement of citizens is today at the core of many inter-
national initiatives where an effective cooperation between scientific re-
search and society is needed. This is particularly true when it comes to
biomedical research, which increasingly addresses to patients, patients’
relatives or patient associations: during the last years, in fact, growing
prominence has been given to patient engagement in the developments of
therapeutic solutions or in designing new research projects. Although
these elements precisely meet the EU objectives and requirements estab-
lished by the Science with and for Society programme – Horizon 2020 for
the Public Engagement and a Responsible Research and Innovation, dif-
ferent pathways and answers have been put in place by European coun-
tries.
    As it is well known, one of the most innovative approach has being
experienced by the UK. The England National Health System (NHS) has
a wide range of policies for the enhancing of patient participation. The
involvement of patients and citizens includes not only ad hoc social media
or standard surveys, but, more importantly, online forums, focus groups
and deliberative events. For instance, in case of proposals of policies for
new therapies, open consultations are launched and people can express
their own views. Most notably, the UK National Institute for Health Re-
search (NIHR) supports the INVOLVE programme: established in 1996,
it encourages “active public involvement in NHS, public health and social
care research”. Another example is that of the Patient Led Research Hub
(PLRH), founded in 2015 by Cambridge University Hospitals, NHS
Foundation Trust and the Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit from the Uni-
versity of Cambridge. Interestingly, the assumption at the basis of PLRH
project is that the other initiatives do not actually take into account pa-
tients priorities in setting the research agenda. This is why PLRH aims at
collecting and supporting research ideas coming from patient organiza-
tions.
    Another almost unique scenario is offered by the French context.
Here, the involvement is more generally addressed to all citizens, through
the États Généraux de la Bioéthique. According to the French system,
laws regulating bioethical issues are subjected to revision every seven
years (as minimum requirement). On the occasion of revision, citizens
committees are summoned and asked to express their own opinion, via
web or during dedicated meetings, on the main bioethical concerns.
Committees’ final reports are then presented to the French Parliament,
which is expected to take them into account when assessing the new regu-
174                                                          Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

latory acts. Last revision took place in the first half of 2018. Among the
revised Articles, many obviously concern biomedical issues, such as clon-
ing, assisted reproduction techniques, organs transplantations, DNA tests
and genetic medicine.
     Italian context is quite different both from the UK and France con-
texts. We do not have a National Health System which directly promotes
the involvement of patients neither do we submit bioethical dispositions
to citizens’ revision. Since the involvement of citizens and more specifical-
ly of patients is not officially promoted by state bodies, the importance
accorded to patient participation is left to the responsiveness and the re-
sponsibility of hospitals, research groups, actors of the pharmaceutical
industry or patient associations. Moreover, one must consider that the
initiatives of science communication in Italy still show a clear predomi-
nance of a top-down approach as well as an unjustified, and often una-
ware, commitment to deficit model’s practices.
     These two elements − on the one hand the absence of centralized ac-
tions aimed at patient and public involvement, on the other hand the lim-
ited use of participative models by people engaged in science communica-
tion − obviously do not foster an effective engagement of citizens when it
comes to matters related to medicine and health issues.
     However, during the last years a good number of projects was born: at
least a couple of them deserve to be mentioned. The first one is the Re-
search Lab for Citizens’ Involvement in Healthcare System (Laboratorio
Ricerca per il Coinvolgimento dei Cittadini in Sanità), promoted by the
Mario Negri Institute in Milan. The Lab includes a remarkable number of
initiatives, such as projects about informed consent and aware decisions −
it is quite common that the concept of patient participation is merely in-
tended as a proactive choice of treatments and therapies. Nevertheless,
the Mario Negri Institute also promotes a series of Citizens Committees
(Giurie dei cittadini), which are expected to evaluate the necessity of
screening programmes for cystic fibrosis and prostate cancer. The project
is a pilot one and it is currently run in the Verona area.
     Another example is the European project EUPATI, started in Italy in
2013, which aims at creating a collaborative consortium involving and
connecting pharmaceutical industry, academia, non-profit organizations
and patient associations. EUPATI partners provide information and
training courses to patients willing to know more about the processes be-
hind medicine development and clinical trials, thus becoming “expert pa-
tients”. As part of the project, in 2014 the Patients’ Academy was found-
ed in Italy, as well as in other European countries − France, England,
Germany for instance. There is also an Italian Stakeholders Board, which
includes prominent stakeholders, such as AIFA (Italian Medicine Agen-
cy), Farmindustria (Association of pharmaceutical industries) and the
Ministry of Health.
     It is within this framework that in Trento, during the exhibit The
Human Genome. What makes us unique at MUSE, an initiative to in-
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                          175
volve patients, patients’ families, patient associations and more in general
citizens was designed . It is obvious that, compared to the projects listed
above, we are talking about a small initiative at local level. However, it
shows some points of interest on which it is worth to focus on. The two-
days meeting is part of a wider project, called CLaSTer. How Science
Works. Dialogues between University and the Region (CLaSTer. Come
Lavora la Scienza. Dialoghi tra Università e Territorio), a three-years pro-
ject funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento and hosted at the
Department of Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento.
The main goal of CLaSTer is to draw attention to scientific research and
the ways it works, through two combined approaches: the use of history
of science and the recourse to participative models. In cooperation with
CIBIO, the Department of Biomolecular Sciences of the University of
Trento and MUSE itself, we decided to organize two days of consensus
conferences on the topics of genomic and precision medicine.
    The reason of the initiative relies on the awareness that it is essential,
generally speaking, and even more within a small local context such as
Trento, to enhance and enforce effective and long-term collaborations
between research institutes, the Province Health System, the doctors and
the healthcare professionals working at the public hospital, and the pa-
tients, patients’ families and patient associations. It is clear that a strong
partnership where each of these actors can bring their own experience
and where clinical practice can constantly benefit from working closely
with academic research, while patients can express their needs and priori-
ties, would not only certainly boost local scientific research, but also help
increasing citizens trust in researchers and healthcare.
    Notwithstanding all this, we must point out that in Trento no partici-
pative models have been put in place to build and strengthen this stake-
holders’ network, partly because the communication of science in the
Province is still mostly constituted by top-down models, and partly be-
cause the development of partnership between academia, healthcare sys-
tem and patients usually goes through different channels. The exhibit
GENOME at MUSE offered the right occasion to experience new path-
ways, especially considering that the themes addressed are strongly linked
to the research being done at CIBIO (which in fact has collaborated in
designing the exhibit’s contents), as well as to the directions in which the
Province Health System is today working – for instance the Trentino Bi-
oBank, which collects samples of tissues and blood, or the Clinical Ser-
vice for Medical Genetics.
    The initiative, named From Genome to Precision Medicine. Discus-
sion groups between Citizens and Scientific Research, was planned to be
developed through two days. During the first day, four roundtables, con-
stituted by two experts and five citizens each, took place: each table was
asked to discuss a specific issue linked to genomics and precision medi-
cine, that is to say risks and benefits, ethical issues, bio-law and economic
sustainability. The aim of this first day was to collect concerns, opinions
176                                                              Tecnoscienza - 9 (2)

and priorities emerging from citizens and to draw special recommenda-
tions based on them. During the second day, yet to take place, the results
from the first day will be displayed by citizens representatives (one per
table) to doctors, policy makers and researchers.
    Since the initiative is still ongoing, it is too early to outline a proper re-
search paper on it, or even to draw any kind of conclusions. However,
there is at least one element which has already come up during the first
date and which is worth to be reported. It especially concerns the phase
of the recruitment of participants, during which we tried to reach those
citizens potentially interested in the themes of the Consensus conference
through the various associations actively working in the Trento area. We
are of course referring to those associations promoting research funding
and citizens’ awareness on a wide range of diseases, that is to say, for in-
stance, different forms of cancer, neurodegenerative illnesses, such as
Huntington’s, diabetes or cystic fibrosis. Moreover, there are also other
associations whose focus is on active citizenship and therefore delibera-
tive democracy. We also contacted teachers and members of the associa-
tion Friends of MUSE, a group of citizens who support MUSE activities.
    While teachers and Friends of MUSE members easily accepted to take
part to the experience − and, by the way, also the doctors and the re-
searchers we contacted in preparation of the second appointment did so
− the response from the majority of patient associations was far lower
than we expected. The reasons can be of course numerous − and we can
not provide an in-depth analysis here − and one of the reasons, beyond
the organizational details that can be always improved, may be that peo-
ple, and especially patients, are not familiar with this kind of initiatives in
the Trento area.
    This is exactly why it will be even more important for the University
and its research groups to create a stronger link with the territory and not
to stop proposing similar projects in order to make them more familiar to
citizens and, at the same time, make citizens more willing to participate.
Obviously, it will also be necessary to demonstrate that this first initiative
has been effective and will have some concrete and positive impacts on all
the actors involved.


Acknowledgements

    Lucia Martinelli wishes to thank Patrizia Famà and Palo Cocco, co-curators of
the exhibition ‘The Human Genome. What makes us unique’, Architect Lorenzo
Greppi for exhibition, graphic design and video supervision, Michele Lanzinger,
the Director of MUSE, for useful discussion, and all the co-authors of the multi-
disciplinary activities carried out.
Beltrame, Martinelli & Ampollini                                             177
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    1
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymN6sZf9mmM
    2
       https://www.univie.ac.at/bio-objects/index.htm
     3
       https://www.synenergene.eu/
     4
       http://www.nano2all.eu/
     5
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds0gSoAs7Bg
     6
        https://www.nasa.gov/twins-study/about
     7
       https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-lacks-family-reach-un-
derstanding-share-genomic-data-hela-cells
     8
       The trailer is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvxFcFJ0BNY
     9
       HeLa was the first immortalized cell line, established in the late 1950s from
Henrietta Lacks’ rare cervix adenocarcinoma, an aggressive lethal cancer, and its
descended lines are still used in the laboratories all over the world. These cells
have been the basis of thousands of scientific publications and important biomed-
ical innovations, some of them also awarded with Nobel prizes.
     10
        Henrietta Lacks, a poor, black woman, has been never informed about her
cells’ use whilst they became economically valuable for the biotech industries.
     11
        https://www.spazio14.it/vite-sintetiche-al-muse-il-29-e-30-settembre/
