Overview

I am a philosopher of science with a background in biochemistry. My research focuses on knowledge-generation in the contemporary life sciences, with a particular focus on how scientists produce reliable and trustworthy data in different experimental settings. I am particularly interested in how automation is changing the way we do science.

I am also interested in the nature of molecules, defending the view that molecular complexes, such as viruses, are best understood as processes rather than "things" or substances. Such ontological claims, I argue, have relevance for ethical debates about how to respond to viral pandemics or how to approach new biotechnological tools such as genome editing.

Office hours:

Wednesdays 1pm-2pm; in person (Byrne House, F11)). To book a slot please use this link.

Fridays 1pm-2pm on Zoom (No booking required. For the Zoom link please see the handbook for the modules I am teaching on ELE).

Personal website: www.guttinger.co.uk

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Research

Philosophy of Data; Philosophy of Experimentation; Philosophy of Biology; Data Ethics; Research Integrity; Biomedical Ethics and Ontology

I am interested in how researchers in the biomedical sciences create trustworthy output, a question that has become particularly relevant in the context of the debate about a ‘replication crisis’ in the experimental sciences. I have argued that the issue might be less problematic than some commentators think, at least in the life sciences. I am also interested in questions about the nature of macromolecular complexes, such as genomes or viruses (I argue, based on the work I have done with John Dupré, that the latter are processes rather than substances). Last but not least, I am also interested in the ethical implications of these recent developments in the biomedical sciences. I have looked, for instance, at how the changing understanding of entities such as viruses is affecting debates about childhood vaccination. I am also interested in how a more process-based picture of the human genome shapes (or should shape) debates about the safety of heritable genome editing in humans.

For an up-to-date list of my publications please see my Google Scholar profile here.

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Publications

_{Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.}

| 2024 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2016 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |

2024

• Guttinger S. (2024) Surveillance in the lab? : How datafication is changing the research landscape, EMBO Rep, DOI:10.1038/s44319-024-00153-2. [PDF]
• Hosseini M, Senabre Hidalgo E, Horbach SPJM, Güttinger S, Penders B. (2024) Messing with Merton: The intersection between open science practices and Mertonian values, Account Res, volume 31, no. 5, pages 428-455, DOI:10.1080/08989621.2022.2141625. [PDF]

2021

• Guttinger S. (2021) Covid-19 and the need for more history and philosophy of RNA, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE LIFE SCIENCES, volume 43, no. 2, article no. ARTN 42, DOI:10.1007/s40656-021-00391-w. [PDF]
• Guttinger S. (2021) Process and Practice: Understanding the Nature of Molecules, HYLE, volume 27, no. 1, pages 47-66. [PDF]

2020

• Guttinger S. (2020) The limits of replicability, EUROPEAN JOURNAL FOR PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, volume 10, no. 2, article no. ARTN 10, DOI:10.1007/s13194-019-0269-1. [PDF]
• Guttinger S. (2020) Editing the Reactive Genome: Towards a Postgenomic Ethics of Germline Editing, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY, volume 37, no. 1, pages 58-72, DOI:10.1111/japp.12367. [PDF]

2019

• Guttinger S. (2019) The anti-vaccination debate and the microbiome How paradigm shifts in the life sciences create new challenges for the vaccination debate, EMBO REPORTS, volume 20, no. 3, article no. ARTN e47709, DOI:10.15252/embr.201947709. [PDF]
• Guttinger S. (2019) A New Account of Replication in the Experimental Life Sciences, PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, volume 86, no. 3, pages 453-471, DOI:10.1086/703555. [PDF]
• Guttinger S, Love AC. (2019) Characterizing scientific failure Putting the replication crisis in context, EMBO REPORTS, volume 20, no. 9, article no. ARTN e48765, DOI:10.15252/embr.201948765. [PDF]

2018

• Guttinger S. (2018) Riding the wave into a crisper future? Jennifer Doudna Samuel Sternberg A Crack in Creation: The New Power to Control Evolution 2017 Bodley Head London 9781847923813 304 Price £20 hardcover, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, volume 67, pages 32-35, DOI:10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.12.001.
• Guttinger S. (2018) Replications Everywhere: Why the replication crisis might be less severe than it seems at first, Bioessays, volume 40, no. 7, DOI:10.1002/bies.201800055. [PDF]
• Guttinger S. (2018) Trust in Science: CRISPR-Cas9 and the Ban on Human Germline Editing, Sci Eng Ethics, volume 24, no. 4, pages 1077-1096, DOI:10.1007/s11948-017-9931-1. [PDF]

2016

• Dupre JA, Guttinger. (2016) Genomics and Postgenomics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Dupré J, Guttinger S. (2016) Viruses as living processes, Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci, volume 59, pages 109-116, DOI:10.1016/j.shpsc.2016.02.010. [PDF]

2013

• Doyle M, Badertscher L, Jaskiewicz L, Güttinger S, Jurado S, Hugenschmidt T, Kutay U, Filipowicz W. (2013) The double-stranded RNA binding domain of human Dicer functions as a nuclear localization signal, RNA, volume 19, no. 9, pages 1238-1252, DOI:10.1261/rna.039255.113. [PDF]
• Güttinger S. (2013) Creating parts that allow for rational design: synthetic biology and the problem of context-sensitivity, Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci, volume 44, no. 2, pages 199-207, DOI:10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.03.015. [PDF]

2011

• Guttinger SM. (2011) Genetic Twists of Fate. Book Review, New Genetics and Society, volume 30, no. 3, pages 289-290, DOI:10.1080/14636778.2011.598693.
• Fronz K, Güttinger S, Burkert K, Kühn U, Stöhr N, Schierhorn A, Wahle E. (2011) Arginine methylation of the nuclear poly(a) binding protein weakens the interaction with its nuclear import receptor, transportin, J Biol Chem, volume 286, no. 38, pages 32986-32994, DOI:10.1074/jbc.M111.273912. [PDF]

2010

• Bonazzi S, Eidam O, Güttinger S, Wach J-Y, Zemp I, Kutay U, Gademann K. (2010) Anguinomycins and derivatives: total syntheses, modeling, and biological evaluation of the inhibition of nucleocytoplasmic transport, J Am Chem Soc, volume 132, no. 4, pages 1432-1442, DOI:10.1021/ja9097093. [PDF]
• Wach J-Y, Güttinger S, Kutay U, Gademann K. (2010) The cytotoxic styryl lactone goniothalamin is an inhibitor of nucleocytoplasmic transport, Bioorg Med Chem Lett, volume 20, no. 9, pages 2843-2846, DOI:10.1016/j.bmcl.2010.03.049. [PDF]

2009

• Güttinger S, Laurell E, Kutay U. (2009) Orchestrating nuclear envelope disassembly and reassembly during mitosis, Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, volume 10, no. 3, pages 178-191, DOI:10.1038/nrm2641. [PDF]

2007

• Bonazzi S, Güttinger S, Zemp I, Kutay U, Gademann K. (2007) Total synthesis, configuration, and biological evaluation of anguinomycin C, Angew Chem Int Ed Engl, volume 46, no. 45, pages 8707-8710, DOI:10.1002/anie.200703134. [PDF]

2006

• Hasan S, Güttinger S, Mühlhäusser P, Anderegg F, Bürgler S, Kutay U. (2006) Nuclear envelope localization of human UNC84A does not require nuclear lamins, FEBS Lett, volume 580, no. 5, pages 1263-1268, DOI:10.1016/j.febslet.2006.01.039. [PDF]
• Mansfeld J, Güttinger S, Hawryluk-Gara LA, Panté N, Mall M, Galy V, Haselmann U, Mühlhäusser P, Wozniak RW, Mattaj IW. (2006) The conserved transmembrane nucleoporin NDC1 is required for nuclear pore complex assembly in vertebrate cells, Mol Cell, volume 22, no. 1, pages 93-103, DOI:10.1016/j.molcel.2006.02.015. [PDF]

2005

• Kutay U, Güttinger S. (2005) Leucine-rich nuclear-export signals: born to be weak, Trends Cell Biol, volume 15, no. 3, pages 121-124, DOI:10.1016/j.tcb.2005.01.005. [PDF]

2004

• Güttinger S, Mühlhäusser P, Koller-Eichhorn R, Brennecke J, Kutay U. (2004) Transportin2 functions as importin and mediates nuclear import of HuR, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, volume 101, no. 9, pages 2918-2923, DOI:10.1073/pnas.0400342101. [PDF]
• Lund E, Güttinger S, Calado A, Dahlberg JE, Kutay U. (2004) Nuclear export of microRNA precursors, Science, volume 303, no. 5654, pages 95-98, DOI:10.1126/science.1090599. [PDF]

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Biography

I was born and raised in Zurich, Switzerland. I studied biology at the ETH Zurich, where I also did my PhD and a post-doc in the lab of Ulrike Kutay in the Biochemistry Department. After almost a decade at the bench, I changed my field of research to philosophy of science. This new trajectory eventually led me to my current post at the University of Exeter. Before coming to Exeter I also worked as a guest teacher at the London School of Economics and as a Teaching Fellow in the Philosophy department at Durham University.

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