The Stem Cell Research Environment: A Patchwork of Patchworks

DOI: 10.1007/s12015-009-9071-3Pages: 82-88

The Stem Cell Research Environment: A Patchwork of Patchworks

Author:
Timothy Caulfield ¹
Amy Zarzeczny ¹
Jennifer McCormick ²
Tania Bubela ³
Christine Critchley ⁴
Edna Einsiedel ⁵
Jacques Galipeau ⁶
Shawn Harmon ⁷
Michael Huynh ⁸
Insoo Hyun ⁹
Judy Illes ¹⁰
Rosario Isasi ¹¹
Yann Joly ¹¹
Graeme Laurie ¹²
Geoff Lomax ¹³
Holly Longstaff ¹⁴
Michael McDonald ¹⁴
Charles Murdoch ¹⁶
Ubaka Ogbogu ^{15, 16}
Jason Owen-Smith ¹⁷
Shaun Pattinson ¹⁸
Shainur Premji ¹⁹
Barbara Tigerstrom ²⁰
David Winickoff ²¹

1. University of Alberta, Health Law Institute, Faculty of Law

2. Mayo Clinic and College of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Program in Professionalism and Bioethics

3. University of Alberta, Health Law Institute, School of Public Health

4. Swinburne University

5. University of Calgary, Faculty of Communication and Culture

6. McGill University, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish Hospital

7. University of Edinburgh, ESRC InnoGen and AHRC SCRIPT

8. McGill University

9. Case Western Reserve University

10. University of British Columbia, National Core for Neuroethics, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology

11. Université de Montréal, Centre de recherche en droit public

12. University of Edinburgh, School of Law

13. California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

14. University of British Columbia, The W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics

15. University of Toronto, Faculty of Law

16. University of Alberta, Health Law Institute

17. University of Michigan

18. Durham University, Department of Law

19. University of Calgary, Department of Community Health Sciences

20. University of Saskatchewan, College of Law and School of Public Health

21. University of California

Correspondence to:
Timothy Caulfield
Email: tcaulfld@law.ualberta.ca

Abstract

Few areas of recent research have received as much focus or generated as much excitement and debate as stem cell research. Hope for the therapeutic promise of this field has been matched by social concern associated largely with the sources of stem cells and their uses. This interplay between promise and controversy has contributed to the enormous variation that exists among the environments in which stem cell research is conducted throughout the world. This variation is layered upon intra-jurisdictional policies that are also often complex and in flux, resulting in what we term a ‘patchwork of patchworks’. This patchwork of patchworks and its implications will become increasingly important as we enter this new era of stem cell research. The current progression towards translational and clinical research among international collaborators serves as a catalyst for identifying potential policy conflict and makes it imperative to address jurisdictional variability in stem cell research environments. The existing patchworks seen in contemporary stem cell research environments provide a valuable opportunity to consider how variations in regulations and policies across and within jurisdictions influence research efficiencies and directions. In one sense, the stem cell research context can be viewed as a living experiment occurring across the globe. The lessons to be gleaned from examining this field have great potential for broad-ranging general science policy application.

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Accepted: Apr 29, 2009
OnlineDate: May 27, 2009

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StemCellGateway.net

Disseminating knowledge for the global stem cell research community.

DOI: 10.1007/s12015-009-9071-3Pages: 82-88