Lisa A. Onaga

Lisa A. Onaga is an Assistant Professor of History at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics, and she holds a Ph.D. in Science & Technology Studies from Cornell University. Her research examines why and how the study of heredity and genetics in modern Japan grew alongside the raw silk trade of the early twentieth century. She is currently writing a book, Anatomy of a Hybrid, which analyzes the rationalization of silkworm husbandry in order to explore entanglements of industrial standards, biological race, and national identity. She is broadly interested in the history of life sciences research connected to the cultivation of “lucrative” organisms with agricultural, cultural, and/or industrial relevance, biological research as vehicles for international cooperation, and the experiences of Asian American scientists in the biosciences.