The Transformative Potential of Feminist Critique in Consumer Research

Given the importance of gender in consumer research, one might expect feminist perspectives to be at the forefront of critical engagement with consumer behaviour theory. However, in recent years, feminist voices have been barely audible. This paper explores the value of, and insights offered by, feminist theories and feminist activism, and how feminist theory and practice has altered our understanding of gendered consumption. It then argues that postmodern and postfeminist perspectives have diluted feminism's transformative potential, leading to a critical impasse in marketing and consumer research. In conclusion, we suggest that feminist perspectives, notably materialist feminism, might open up fresh new possibilities for critique, and interesting and worthwhile areas for transformative research in consumer behaviour.

Clinical potential of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics in the respiratory system

The discovery of an ever-expanding plethora of coding and non-coding RNAs with nodal and causal roles in the regulation of lung physiology and disease is reinvigorating interest in the clinical utility of the oligonucleotide therapeutic class. This is strongly supported through recent advances in nucleic acids chemistry, synthetic oligonucleotide delivery and viral gene therapy that have succeeded in bringing to market at least three nucleic acid-based drugs. As a consequence, multiple new candidates such as RNA interference modulators, antisense, and splice switching compounds are now progressing through clinical evaluation. Here, manipulation of RNA for the treatment of lung disease is explored, with emphasis on robust pharmacological evidence aligned to the five pillars of drug development: exposure to the appropriate tissue, binding to the desired molecular target, evidence of the expected mode of action, activity in the relevant patient population and commercially viable value proposition.