Transcript ESRC Stem Cell Initiative: Capacity Building and Awareness

ESRC Stem Cell Initiative:
Capacity Building and
Awareness Raising.
1st Annual Meeting.
30th November 2006
SCI: some key areas of inquiry
1. Constructing accountability
• Ethical boundary work in labs
• Sourcing tissue
• Regulatory regimes and the socio-technical
‘management of tissue’, nationally and globally
• Public good/public trust/media
SCI: some key areas of inquiry
2. Commercial exploitation of stem cells:
• consistency in bioprocessing and in therapeutic
results (GMP as basis for stable product)
• a scale-up that works – automation (mix of mass
and customised products)?
• measures of cost effectiveness
• ‘regulatory intelligence’
• SC lines in drug development: eg toxicity testing?
SCI: some key areas of inquiry
3. Clinical exploitation:
• How are research (scientific) results likely to be
applied in clinical settings: differences between
science and medicine?
• Distinction between ‘adult’ (somatic) and hESC
work and clinical preferences
• Supply and distribution dynamics?
• Clinical trial design (impact of HT directive?)
• How will clinical profession develop new model
of ‘outcome’ over longer period of time than
normal?
SCI: some key areas of inquiry
4. Regulatory issues in the UK:
• What new regulations will need to be developed
– eg re chimera?
• Where cells ‘sit’ in regulatory context – (eg adult
cells and the HTD? Are they transplants or can
they be used for ‘research purposes only’?)
• Modelling regulation: the intersection of tissue
system with differing regulatory regimes?
What common to this work?
• Boundaries of living creatures/tissue – interested
in ‘life itself’ (Rose): a bio-social (t)issue: the
intersection of the biological and the social.
• When do policy makers/politicians feel there is
an obligation to intervene on ‘our behalf’ and
why?
• Decisional fields outside of state (Rabinow’s
‘biosocial communities’)
• Innovation as a ‘social matrix’ : economic,
regulatory and social aspects co-constructed as
material narratives
Theoretical & methodological
issues for network
• Expectations analysis: how do these
‘perform’?
• Where/how to look for ‘translation: hybrid
sites?
• Role of intermediaries ( eg patient groups;
regulators; banks)
• Understanding diversity across fields/ sites
of application
Questions for CBAR network
• Relationship with users/scientists:
reflecting on role/impact of social science?
• Position of network within UK stem cell
collaboration?
• Longer term publishing/dissemination
activity ( e.g. special issues of journals,
workshops) – cross cutting questions to
pursue? (e.g. specificity of hESCs?)
Future networked activity
• March 2007, Social Science Week, SCI
plan to run a Public Engagement Event
• March 2007, CESAgen Annual Meeting,
plenary session being planned
• April 2007 BSA Annual Meeting, stream of
papers from SCI and related work is
planned