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SUMMARY:Information channels and biomarkers of disease - Phyllis Illari (U
 CL)
DTSTART:20140123T163000Z
DTEND:20140123T180000Z
UID:TALK49543@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Helen Curry
DESCRIPTION:Current research in molecular epidemiology uses biomarkers to 
 model the different disease phases from environmental exposure\, to early 
 clinical changes\, to development of disease. The hope is to get a better 
 understanding of the causal impact of a number of pollutants and chemicals
  on several diseases\, including cancer and allergies. In a recent paper R
 usso and Williamson (2012) address the question of what evidential element
 s enter the conceptualisation and modelling stages of this type of biomark
 ers research. Recent research in causality has examined Ned Hall's distinc
 tion between two concepts of causality: production and dependence (Hall\, 
 2004). In another recent paper\, Illari (2011b) examined the relatively un
 der-explored production approach to causality\, arguing that at least one 
 job of an account of causal production is to illuminate our inferential pr
 actices concerning causal linking. Illari argued that an informational acc
 ount solves existing problems with traditional accounts.\n\nThis paper fol
 lows up this previous work by investigating the nature of the causal links
  established in biomarkers research\, examining the methodologically innov
 ative current FP7 project "EXPOsOMICS":http://www.exposomicsproject.eu/ . 
 We argue that traditional accounts of productive causality are unable to p
 rovide a sensible account of the nature of the causal link in biomarkers r
 esearch\, while an informational account is very promising.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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