Abstract
The genetic revolution is transforming agriculture and medicine, creating markets for genetic materials of both human and non-human origin that might form the basis of new proprietary products. In this paper I outline how these biological materials are combined with specialised scientific knowledge to create engineered artefacts – cell lines, tissue samples, sequenced DNA – that are now commodified and traded internationally as part of the new global resource economy in ‘bioinformation’. In so doing I place particular emphasis on the role that spatial relations have played in shaping the organisation and operation of this new scientific and industrial enterprise.
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