The Business of Stem Cells

In 2004, the topic of stem cell research made both medical and moral headlines. Buoyed by a series of technological breakthroughs, stem cell scientists grew increasingly convinced that they would eventually be able to use embryonic stem cells -- the pluripotent cells taken from an early stage embryo -- to attack and perhaps cure a wide range of devastating illnesses. Opponents, however, were equally convinced that any use of embryonic stem cells was morally reprehensible, takng, in effect, one form of life to save another. Political forces quickly allied themselves on both sides of this divide, either rallying to raise government funds for stem cell research or rushing to prohibit its development. This project does not attempt to resolve either the moral or scientific debates that surround stem cell research. Instead, it views stem cells through the lens of the market; a lens that sees stem cells as a set of highly promising but still unproven technologies. Accordingly, the project will attempt to plot how private firms are moving into the stem cell industry; how they are dealing with laws that vary widely across national and state borders; and how this nascent commerce will both shape and by shaped by powerful political debates.