Resources, Valuation, Trust: Sharing in Stem Cell Research

In biomedicine and science more broadly, there is increasing emphasis on ‘openness’ in research practices both between those involved in research and with those who might benefit from the research. Such emphasis is often invoked because it is hoped, and often assumed, that more openness will promote greater productivity, transparency and trust in scientific research. These efforts have focussed on the availability and sharing of data and knowledge, along with more tangible resources such as biological materials. Certain types of resources are valued in particular ways, and these dynamics affect the extent to which they can be entrusted and shared with others and used in more collaborative scientific research (or not). In this chapter, we use stem cell research as a case study to examine: (1) how material resources (e.g. stem cell lines) are valued in distinct (but overlapping) ways compared to more text-based resources (e.g. data, knowledge), and (2) how the valuation of these resources informs relations of trust, sharing, communication and collaboration between researchers. We draw on empirical insights from interviews with stem cell researchers in Australia, conducted as part of a research project investigating the potential for increasing ‘openness’ in Australian stem cell research. Overall, we demonstrate how scientific resources are valued in multiple ways, which informs the possibilities for more open and collaborative scientific research.