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Introduction
The recent history of Covid-19 is closely linked to Next Gen-
eration Sequencing (NGS). Taking a closer look at this link be-
tween an emerging pandemic and NGS as a technique, practice,
paradigm and network allows for addressing potential ramifica-
tions not of NGS ‘per se’, but of technoscience-in-context. The
following article is dedicated to this ambition.
From its very beginning, a central role in identifying, observ-
ing, and processing the current pandemic was assigned to the
molecular-genetic virological dimension of the disease, that is,
the SARS-CoV-2 viral ribonucleic acid (RNA). The local spread
of a previously unknown respiratory syndrome in the Chinese
province of Wuhan was linked to the emergence of a novel vi-
rus in the Chinese population in autumn 2019 and confirmed as
a new disease (coronavirus disease 2019 or Covid-19) at the end
of December. The first complete sequences of the viral genome
were submitted about eight weeks later, in early March 2020.
Whole-genome sequencing of the virus was achieved via the use
of Next Generation Sequencing methods (Zhou et al 2020; Wu
et al 2020) and led to the characterization, categorization and
naming of the virus. Based on this, hypotheses were formulated
about the origin of the virus from specific animal populations.
NGS has contributed and continues to contribute to describing
and differentiating different populations of the novel virus and
monitoring the virus’ further genetic evolution. Knowledge of
the complete genome informs the development of effective vac-
cines as well as the development of appropriate testing methods
that can detect and quantify the respective viral load. Recently,
even clinical testing methods based on whole-genome sequenc-
ing via NGS techniques have been approved. In contrast to the
common real-time PCR tests, which only react to the presence
of small but characteristic sections of the viral genome in a sam-
ple (sections that had previously been established by whole-ge-
nome sequencing), NGS-based tests sequence the entire viral
genome present in the sample and allow for the detection of var-
iants and mutations.
Abstract • “When is Covid Covid?” is the title of a discussion paper pub-
lished by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University
on 11 September 2020. Amid the multinational struggle for an appro-
priate social and political approach to the crisis triggered by Covid-19,
a recognized panel of medical experts alerts us that Covid-19 is defined
very differently in different contexts. One definition focuses on symp-
toms, another one on RNA sequences of the virus. In the present con-
tribution, this debate is taken up to discuss the extent to which new se-
quencing practices and their “seamless webs” become socially effective
as instances of interpretation and design. At the same time, the limi-
tations of such webs become noticeable as ruptures, seams, and scars.
Next Generation Sequencing und Covid-19 als nahtloses Netz
Zusammenfassung • „Wann ist Covid Covid?“ titelt ein Diskussionsbei-
trag des Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine der Universität Oxford vom
11.
September 2020. Inmitten des multinationalen Ringens um einen ge-
eigneten gesellschaftlichen wie politischen Umgang mit der durch Co-
vid-19 ausgelösten Krisensituation weist ein anerkanntes medizinisches
Expert*innengremium darauf hin, dass Covid-19 in unterschiedlichen
Kontexten sehr unterschiedlich definiert wird. Bei einer Definition geht
es um klinische Symptome am Menschen, bei einer anderen um RNA-
Sequenzen des Virus. In dem Beitrag wird diese Frage aufgegriffen und
diskutiert, inwiefern neue Sequenzierungspraktiken und deren „naht-
lose Netze“ als Deutungs- und Gestaltungsinstanzen gesellschaftlich
wirkmächtig werden. Dabei zeigen sich auch die Grenzen solcher Netze
in Form von Brüchen, Nähten und Narben.
Keywords • seamless web, next generation sequencing, Covid-19
RESEARCH ARTICLE
The seamless web of
next generation sequencing
and Covid-19
Karen Kastenhofer, Institute of Technology Assessment, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Apostelgasse 23, 1030 Vienna, AT (kkast@oeaw.ac.at) 0000-0001-5843-6489
OPEN ACCESS
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This is an article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
CCBY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.30.2.18
Received: Feb.
05, 2021; revised version accepted: May 05, 2021;
published online: Jul.
26,2021 (non-blind peer review)
The implementation of next generation sequencing requires
the active construction and expansion of a seamless web of actors,
practices, ontologies and objects.
resents a seamless web, whether it comes with no loose ends at
all, is another question addressed later in this text.
Remarkably, very useful, high-quality explanatory videos on
NGS are being provided via internet platforms. These videos
combine scientific-technical explanations from “What is DNA?”
to “How does genome sequencing work?” (Chow 2019), info-
tainment and promotion of sequencing equipment. They ex-
plain that NGS encompasses several different sequencing ap-
proaches, that all share significant differences from traditional
(i.
e., Sanger) sequencing. They present relevant differences be-
tween the various NGS approaches and relating next generation
sequencing machines and discuss appropriate fields of applica-
tion. It can be assumed that these didactically sophisticated vid-
eos are also used in academic education. Some of them feature
recognized professors from renowned universities. It is not al-
ways easy to see whether a private company and/or a public uni-
versity is behind these videos; an interesting example of a pub-
lic-private partnership at the level of scientific didactics as well
as another part of the seamless web of which NGS is part!
Conversely, the implementation of NGS requires the active
construction and expansion of a seamless web of actors, prac-
tices, ontologies and objects. This task is incumbent on “het-
erogeneous engineers”: “The technologist [heterogeneous engi-
neer] has to be seen as attempting to build a world where bits and
pieces, social, natural, physical or economic, are interrelated”, as
Hughes (1986, p.
289) quotes his colleague Law1. Simultaneously,
the importance of categorical differences fades: the heterogene-
ous engineer is as much an inventor as a scientist or entrepre-
neur. NGS is thus not just another element in the techno-scien-
tific repertoire; it requires the practice of heterogeneous engi-
neering attributed to the figure of the heterogeneous engineer; it
entails the consolidation of existing and/or the construction of
new networks of actors, practices, rules, ontologies and objects.
Any action or innovation that affects one element of the network
will impact on the whole system and its components.
Such a connection has already been drawn in many exam-
ples in the history of science and technology, for example in
Bruno Latour’s account of the “Pasteurisation of France” (La-
tour 1988). The disciplining aspect of socio-technical innovation
is a central theme in Foucault’s work on health care or prisons
(Foucault 1976). However, the world has continued to change
since Latour’s and Foucault’s empirical case studies and so has
the scientific realm. Shapin (2008) depicts this change for the
1However, the quotation could not be found in the referenced text.
NGS in the seamless web of techno-
science
NGS is presented in expert literature and in mass media as a
new tool, simply adding to the existing techno-scientific tool-
box, opening up for new possibilities via faster and cheaper ge-
nome sequencing and bringing about some limitations (such as
decreasing reliability with increasing sequence length). As early
as 1986, however, the historian of technology Thomas Hughes
pointed to an alternative view of technology that does not fo-
cus on new techniques in isolation, refraining from a categori-
cal separation of objects, techniques and actors, or actor fields
such as science, technology or society. Along with this concep-
tion, technology and technological change are realized through
“seamless webs”, their heterogeneous professionals and organi-
zations: “Heterogeneous professionals– such as engineers, sci-
entists and managers– and heterogeneous organizations– such
as manufacturing firms, utilities, and banks– become interact-
ing entities in systems or networks. […] Technology and sci-
ence, pure and applied, internal and external, and technical
and social, are some of the dichotomies foreign to the integrat-
ing inventors, engineers, and managers of the system- and net-
work-building era.” (Hughes 1986, p.
282, 286). Similar per-
spectives have been brought to bear by other science and tech-
nology researchers such as Michel Callon, Bruno Latour, John
Law and Annemarie Mol. But these approaches, roughly sum-
marized as actor-network theory, mostly lack the historical di-
agnosis that seamless webs -like networks– are a phenomenon
linked to a certain era.
A closer look at the practices, instruments and actors involved
in NGS promotes the diagnosis of a seamless web: NGS is car-
ried out via specially developed sequencing equipment provided
by a few market leaders in this field. The results of the genetic
sequencing itself are of very limited informational value. Only in
comparison with other genomic sequences and relating metadata
deposited and archived in sequence databases do they become
interpretable in different directions. Sequence databases, in turn,
require consortia that define uniform annotation standards and
access options; they must be maintained and checked for legal
and ethical aspects. Since the costly creation and maintenance of
sequence databases is currently the real brake on high-scale viral
whole-genome sequencing, NGS methods are being adapted to
best support existing databases (Gohl etal. 2020). Thus, an al-
most endless network of actors, practices, rules, ontologies and
objects is constructed. Whether this endless network also rep-
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Access to the viral (or microbial) component, on the other hand,
is socially rehearsed and established– one could also say seam-
lessly compatible with established networks of actors, practices,
rules, ontologies and objects. New feasibilities, as opened up by
NGS procedures, support such an approach from the techno-sci-
entific side. They essentially allow for more genetic material to
be sequenced in less time at a lower cost.2 Thus, science, politics,
and the public increasingly focus on the virological properties,
molecular genetic characteristics, and epidemiological events in
the current crisis.
The witnessed short-term change of focus from clinical
symptoms to molecular genetics, virology and epidemiology at-
tends to an obvious rationale: it is paramount to bring a rapidly
developing epidemiological event resulting in quickly increasing
death rates worldwide under control as effectively as possible.
New possibilities of molecular genetic characterization are being
exploited and further developed to better understand this side of
the pandemic. This gives rise to hopes for a better understanding
of the origin of the pandemic and the further development and
diversification of the virus, for the development of adequate test
kits, for better prevention through appropriate behavioral rules
and– last but not least– for effective vaccines. Besides the de-
mand for utmost accuracy of sequencing, there is also the need
for maximum throughput to enable the characterization of as
many virus samples as quickly and as detailed as possible.
When all societal efforts focus on one perspective– in this
case, linking molecular genetics, virology and epidemiology–
it is not long before visible successes are being achieved. Enor-
mous knowledge about the new virus has been gathered. The
virus has been named and categorized. The genome has been
completely sequenced several times. Internationally accessible
archives with extensive data material on locally emerging muta-
tions have been created and continuously expanded. The virus’
origin from animal populations and its transmission through in-
termediate hosts to humans is being researched. In an incredibly
short time, highly effective vaccines have been developed, ap-
proved and put into use. Last but not least, we have all learned to
move and behave risk-consciously in public spaces, from keep-
ing distances the size of baby elephants (an expression that be-
came famous in the Austrian primary education context) to hand
hygiene and face masks. Public space has been rapidly trans-
2The extent to which this leads to losses in the accuracy or reliability of
sequenc ing in comparison to classical sequencing technology cannot be dis-
cussed here; however, such a trade-off is to be assumed to a certain extent.
life sciences, he devises the figure of the heterogeneous engineer
under the label scientific entrepreneur. Digitally supported plat-
forms connecting network nodes are themselves becoming lucra-
tive business models. They are being critically discussed, for ex-
ample, under the general catchword network capitalism ( Srnicek
2016) or in relation to distinct contexts and issues such as “seam-
less webs of surveillance” established by the Internet of Things
(Sadowski and Pasquale 2015).
The seamless web of Covid-19
With the detection of a new pandemic, its molecular-genetic
characterization as SARS-CoV-2 and the (further) develop-
ment of corresponding networks, the new disease has been suc-
cessfully established as a molecular-genetic-virological-epide-
miological event, a seamless picture of the current situation has
emerged and is continuously being stabilized.
Not every subjective feeling of illness, not every clinically ob-
served and medically characterized clinical symptom, is primar-
ily investigated at the molecular genetic level, either because a
causal relationship is not (yet) assumed or because it could not
(yet) be determined. A robust causal connection between the ge-
netic level and the phenomenological level of a clinical symp-
tom is drawn in our understanding and treatment of hereditary
diseases, mutation-based syndromes and genetic predisposi-
tions, but also for viral diseases. In the former cases, it is the ge-
nome of the diseased; in the latter case, the virus’ genome plays
the central role. In both cases, the connection between clinical
symptoms and genetic characteristics is more complex than sim-
ple cause-and-effect models would suggest: the causal relation-
ship between genetic risk factors and the risk of disease is not
always clear. The categorization of a disease as a viral disease
is sometimes ambiguous: the presence of the virus, its quantita-
tive load and other factors on the part of the patient, such as life-
style-associated or genetic factors, play a role.
Nevertheless, viral diseases, their treatment and containment
are often successfully based on the viral factor alone. This may
be partly because such treatments show substantial efficacy,
partly because other factors are beyond immediate reach for
various reasons. Lifestyle changes, for example, will only have
an impact in the medium to long term. Moreover, the choice of
lifestyle is (essentially) still considered a personal, free decision.
Access to the human genome is neither legally permissible nor is
it (currently) technically feasible in a precise, controlled manner.
The connection between clinical symptoms and
genetic characteristics is more complex than simple
cause-and-effect models would suggest.
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symptoms. Sequence-based definitions differ in test method, de-
tecting either viral sequences or antibodies. These comprise es-
sentially real-time PCR methods, based on the amplification
of genetic material by polymerase chain reactions and subse-
quent detection of this material in the sample. NGS only pro-
vides the reference frame by providing data on the complete viral
genome.
And finally, test results are interpreted in different ways, e.
g.,
regarding the minimum threshold of viral load in the sample that
would result in a positive test. Treatment and prevention practices
based on such diagnostic methods can either focus on case-based
clinical decision-making, or on adapting individual behavior, or
on population-wide management strategy. Practices thus focus
either on the clinical symptoms and their improvement, or on as-
sessing and minimizing the probability that the virus will continue
to be transmitted in epidemiologically relevant quantities, or on
predicting and responding correctly to the pandemic development
as a whole. Spencer and colleagues (2020) call for the harmoni-
zation of lower limits of the viral load and for the complimen-
tary recording of clinical symptoms (the recording of lung CTs
and serological findings in hospitals) to allow for transnational
comparability and a more comprehensive definitory approach.
The web of actors, practices, rules, ontologies and objects
thus obviously features seams and fractures along the national
borders of regulatory regimes that need to be attended to by a
kind of sewing work. Transnational evidence-based medicine is
taking on this critical task, as are other relevant actors. Further
seams or fractures result from different orientations of action
within scientific research, clinical practice and pandemic man-
agement. Gathering new and robust insights, treating individual
patients and getting a pandemic under control do not always go
hand in hand without frictions.
Webs, seams and loose ends
When we speak of seamless webs, seams and fractures in the
context of NGS and Covid-19, we are essentially talking about
the characterization of a context of action in which NGS can be
seen as an element or– in the language of actor-network theory–
as an actant. Along with such a conception, NGS is not a passive
cog in a superordinate wheel but an active part that co-defines
an entire network of actors, practices, ontologies, rules and ob-
jects. Conversely, we can also assume that NGS, and techno-sci-
ence more generally, are being shaped by their role in the pan-
demic. Thus, the rules that govern techno-science can change in
times of crisis. Well-known examples include pre-review publi-
formed into a laboratory to a level that even Bruno Latour could
not have anticipated more accurately. An entire generation will
no longer associate face masks with safety labs or operating the-
atres, but with the weekly family trip to the grocery store and an
on-off attendance at school.
So much for the enormous success story of the focus on
SARS-Cov-2 and its genetic sequence in the current pandemic.
The sudden and exclusive molecular-genetic focus, however, ob-
fuscates other relevant factors (such as lifestyle or income level),
rendered previously established practices (such as medical diag-
nostics) incompatible and banished alternative horizons of per-
ception and concern– such as those of curative treatments of
symptoms or of addressing long-term societal and ecological
impacts. In the short term, these may be unintended side effects
that we as a society consciously or unconsciously accept. But
what if they stand in the way of dealing productively with the
pandemic in the medium and long term? In the following, the
unintended side effects of our highly successful short-term mo-
lecular-genetic-virological view will be taken into account to
discuss why we may have to broaden our horizon again to en-
sure long-term success.
“When is Covid Covid?”:
on seams and fractures
Evidence-based medicine propagates placing clinical action on
the best available factual basis. Its rather pragmatic take on ad-
dressing everyday practical challenges of clinical decision mak-
ing rarely results in extensive terminological treatises. And yet,
the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University
posed an almost philosophical question on 11 September 2020:
“When is Covid Covid?” (Spencer etal. 2020). The practical rel-
evance of this question is quickly explained: Covid-19, accord-
ing to the authors’ research, is defined very differently in differ-
ent national contexts. The contribution contrasts the diagnos-
tic guidelines of the WHO, the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control (ECDC) of the European Union, the
Centers for Disease Control of the USA, the British and the Ital-
ian governments. The most significant consensus concerns the
detection of confirmed cases. It is almost always based on pos-
itive laboratory tests. But even in this case, the technical details
often remain unclear, and further incongruences abound.
Moreover, some definitions focus on confirmed cases, oth-
ers on probable cases or suspected cases. One time, a defini-
tion is based solely on the prevalence of specific viral RNA
sequences in a sample; another time, it encompasses clinical
How to infuse a broader horizon and a tolerance
of diversity in these times of crisis?
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native; the (semiotic) web appears seamless for the time being.
The advantage of such alleged seamlessness is a maximum of
coordination and thus the ability to react quickly and effectively.
But with time elapsing, we have to address the question of how
long our societies can tolerate such a mechanical state, ignoring
existing ruptures, postponing necessary sewing work and dry-
ing out alternative networks.
Moreover, a first phase of maximum coordination seems to
have been followed by a second phase, marked by increasing re-
sistance (passive as motivational Corona fatigue and active as
public protest), infodemias and urban legends. All this points
towards the fractures and loose ends of the dominating network
to which NGS belongs. This does not mean that it is an ineffec-
tive, dysfunctional or even morally bad network. But it shows us
that we as a society still have a lot more to look at and work on;
or in other words, we cannot and must not be wholly absorbed
in this– or any other– single web.
Discussion: the diagnosis of a (not so)
seamless web
An end to the current pandemic is currently not in sight: vacci-
nation alone may not terminate the current crises; further pan-
demics of similar magnitude cannot be ruled out. The network
to which NGS essentially belongs (including its heterogeneous
engineers, practices, rules, ontologies and objects) seems to have
been the only network that could provide practical answers to
the life-threatening situation in the short term. Therefore, there
can be no question of abandoning it; on the contrary, demand–
further promoted by an increasing technology push– will prob-
ably continue to rise. Questions nevertheless accrue: in the short
and medium-term, concerning the maintenance work that is in
any case necessary to ensure the coordination within the net-
work (for example, further developing and maintaining broadly
accessible genome databases), concerning the sewing work to
promote a robust alignment of relevant actors and actor fields.
In the long run, the question arises whether the existing bi-
omedical web (for a critical analysis of this term and its use,
see Cambrosio and Keating 2003; Bruchhausen 2010) of which
NGS is a part can address all possibilities for pandemic preven-
tion and management. For example, whole-genome sequencing
has pointed to the origin of the virus from animal populations.
Ecologists have already spoken out in this regard: lasting pan-
demic prevention needs complementary approaches, especially
cations and fast-track approvals, which impinge on established
routines of quality assurance. At the same time, there are calls
for additional techniques of quality assurance to re-stabilize the
network. Established funding and ownership models are also be-
ing re-discussed (Ravi Srinivas 2020).
The individual elements of this web not only communicate
with each other, they condition and constitute each other. Thereby,
coordination does not predominantly occur on a meta-level (e.
g.,
through formulating explicit rules and implementing them via
regulatory agencies), but rather in a mechanical manner3. The
fewer seams, fractures and loose ends a web holds, the more ubiq-
uitous and far-reaching such almost mechanical coordination ef-
fects can become. In the present context of Covid-19, fractures,
seams and loose ends become apparent that resist and some-
times sabotage such coordination. Given the rather frightening
idea of ubiquitous coordination by a seamless techno-scientific
web (reminiscent of science fiction prose that paints dystopian
pictures about machines or the mechanical principle taking over
our lifeworld), such ruptures indeed open up for welcome inter-
ference.
However, another extreme is also worrying: what if ruptures,
seams and loose ends become so dominant that socio-political
coordination is no longer possible at all? Fractures at the level
of national regulatory regimes and divergent fields of practice
have already been mentioned above. They seem workable when
acknowledged and addressed. If we recognize that good clini-
cal practice is based on different objectives, success criteria and
quality standards than the epistemic practice of virological and
epidemiological research or the governmental practice of pan-
demic management, much can be gained.
But what about our collective, public understanding of the
pandemic and its mitigation in contemporary societies at large?
How to navigate between a worrying picture of total coordina-
tion by a seamless web of aligned actors and similarly dangerous
fundamental fragmentation based on divergent interests, ontolo-
gies or values? How to infuse a broader horizon and a tolerance
of diversity in these times of crisis? It is striking that this first
year of the pandemic has been characterized by a relative impov-
erishment of narratives, perspectives and approaches. In public
discourse, too, a single, narrative seems to prevail without alter-
3An interesting aspect in this respect is that the pandemic’s central figure–
the virus– is depicted in contemporary culture as “a kind of missing link”, “a
necessary interface between viralism and mechanism” (Ristow 2021, translation
by the author).
Lasting pandemic prevention needs complementary
approaches, especially those dedicated to preserving
near-natural ecosystems.
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Schubert, Cornelius (2019): Impfen. In: Pop. Kultur und Kritik 8 (2), pp.
54–59.
https://doi.org/10.14361/pop-2019-080208
Shapin, Steven (2008): The scientific life. A moral history of a late modern
vocation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/
chicago/9780226750170.001.0001
Spencer, Elizabeth; Jefferson, Tom; Brassey, Jon; Heneghan, Carl (2020):
When is Covid, Covid? In: The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.
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disease in China. In: Nature 579 (7798), pp.
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those dedicated to preserving near-natural ecosystems and, thus,
bio-ecological resilience (Daszak etal. 2020). However, to in-
tegrate corresponding actors, practices, rules, ontologies and
objects into the existing biomedical web, the currently prevail-
ing heterogeneous engineers do not seem to be heterogeneous
enough by far. This concerns not only the elements of the seam-
less web, but also the attitude of its engineers, which in the best
case should also enable curative work and acknowledge diver-
sity and inevitable loose ends.
The concept of the seamless web as put forward by sociolo-
gist-historians of science and technology allows for discussing
and comparing alternative kinds of networks, with or without
seams, with strong or weak ties, endless or finite. It allows for
addressing seams (Žižek 2001), fractures, scars (reminiscent of
Mary Shelley’s figure of Frankenstein) and loose ends from a
broader, socio-cultural perspective. NGS and Covid-19 mitiga-
tion are certainly not the only context in which such discussions
might be favorable (see also Schubert 2019 for the application
of the concept to the analysis of Covid-19 vaccination), but they
can serve as a worth-while and timely exemplary case.
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DR.
KAREN KASTENHOFER
is a science and technology studies scholar and
TA practitioner with an academic background in
biology. Her research focuses on technoepistemic
cultures, technoscientific controversies and the
governance of biotechnoscience. She coordinated
the research project Techno-Epistemic Cultures
in 21stst Century Life Sciences with support of the
Austrian Science Fund (FWF V-383, 2014–2019).
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SPECIAL TOPIC · NExT gENErATION SEquENCINg
Karen Kastenhofer
(2021) 30/2: 18–23
