The complex transformations of the science of matter: between the composite of ancient knowledge and modern specialization

• Grant number: 99/12791-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2000
• End date: November 30, 2005
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Science
• Principal Investigator: Ana Maria Alfonso-Goldfarb
• Grantee: Ana Maria Alfonso-Goldfarb
• Host Institution: Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em História da Ciência. Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Márcia Helena Mendes Ferraz ; Maria Helena Roxo Beltran
• Associated research grant(s): 02/01053-6 - Peptides derived from bauhinia inhibitors reactive site: tools for the investigation of biological processes., AR.EXT; 01/00060-6 - Piyo M. Rattansi | University College London - Inglaterra, AV.EXT
• Associated scholarship(s): 01/06360-1 - Chemical and medical connections in 17th Century theories of chemical philosophers, BP.PD

Abstract

The new Historiography of Science has been developing studies about works, authors, and schools of thought aiming to value their particular and local boundaries. Thus, for an analysis of a wider context, it is necessary to create interfaces between authors having the same theme in common. For that matter, the present project integrates specific researches of various scholars linked to the Centro Simão Mathias de Estudos em História da Ciência(CESIMA) who have been studying, from assorted periods and through different objectives, the complex transformations of the science of matter. These transformations were dramatic when the process of specialization began to disintegrate ancient knowledges: 1) the expression of melanopsins in cutaneous pigment cells appeared early and was conserved along evolution; 2) the response to light (pigment dispersion or aggregation) in GEM-81 fish erythrophoroma cell line, Xenopus melanophore cell line and mouse S91 and Melan-A cell lines depends on melanopsin expression; 3) melanopsin expression may be regulated by light and hormones. The following experimental strategies will be pursued: 1) the quantitation of melanopsin expression, proliferative rate and tyrosine activity in pigment cells in response to visible light; 2) the expression of melantropic hormones receptors, aiming to select those to be analyzed regarding their ability to modulate melanopsin expression; 3) the quantitation of melanopsin expression in response to hormones; 4) the determination of the signaling pathways evoked by light-melanopsin interaction; 5) the transfection with melanopsin gene of non-expressing melanopsin cells to rescue their ability to respond to light. (AU)