Mauro TURRINI

"Banalizing Genomics: The invisible success of the molecularization of non-rare thrombophilia"

The spread of the genetic test for non-rare thrombophilia is an interesting successful case of the application of genomics in clinics, established less than two decades after the discovery of the two genetic markers associated with the predisposition for thrombosis. While other innovations in the field of genomics have been surrounded by public outcry or debate, these tests have been almost unnoticed. Still largely unnoticed, the genomic reconfiguration of this predisposition instantiates a new innovation pattern marked by the marginality or even absence of geneticists. “Banalizing genomics” serves here as an ambivalent process which regards, on one hand, the normalization of genomic information, which is increasingly used as any other layer of biological data, and, on the other, the geneticization of medical practice, which is increasingly affected by genetics. This research intends to identify and analyze the conditions that have made the banalization of such tests possible, and the various challenges that this process poses to public health. It comprises two axes: a history of the scientific and clinical validation and subsequent inclusion for national insurance coverage of genetic testing for NRT in France and a study of the test’s rapid incorporation into the routine medical practice of relevant specialties.