Concerns have been raised about the marketization of science through the prevailing funding regime. However, the present article will discuss how it comes that the potentially marketable stem cell science is not more commercialized than what is currently the case. We approach this question by analysing discursive pluralism in defining the value of stem cells within a grant allocation process. More specifically, we focus on how the commercial imperative is challenged by other cherished values surrounding stem cell research. The case study used to discuss this is the Swedish Government’s funding of stem cell research within so-called strategic research programmes. The analysis focuses on the co-existence of what we refer to as entrepreneurial, translational and basic research politico-moral discourses. How the co-existence of politico-moral discourses is possible, despite potential tensions, is investigated by drawing on the theoretical framework of bio-objectification. Specifically, we highlight how the relationship between various bio-identities and values was reorganized along the research grant allocation trajectory. We argue that there are obvious signs of temporally specific discursive shifts away from the commercial imperative in the grant allocation process. This suggests the need to study located processes, in order to understand the work of politico-moral discourses in the grant allocation process. This work contributes to an understanding of the uneven and varied impact of neoliberal policies on biomedicine.

Social and educational scientists Drs Tora Holmberg, Malin Ideland and Shai Mulinari discuss their progress so far on a research project addressing the contemporary and controversial subject of cybrids and the discourse around them

One critical issue confronting human stem cell research is the lack of embryos as research/therapeutic material. In the pursuit of ways to amend this shortage, ethical and legislative issues have been raised. Specifically, ethical and legal debates concerning donation of eggs for research and creation of human embryos in vitro have been recurring in many countries. More recently, some countries e.g. the UK and Denmark have witnessed similar debates around the creation of interspecies embryos. In parallel to these debates, however, medical and commercial expectations from the stem cell technology have been rising. In this paper we discuss the shaping and functioning of the moral economies in which these issues are settled. What kinds of moral “currencies” are viable and valued by different moral communities, and how can these moral economies be understood in relation to the bio- objectification process surrounding human embryonic stem cells? How is this bio-object constructed and reconstructed inside the different communities? Drawing from case studies of different yet interconnected moral communities at various sites – research, media, research policy and market – we will highlight the bio- objectification processes through the notions of “virtues and vices” and “expectations”. We will discuss relations between virtues and vices and expectations, and how they are closely related to each other. The analysis builds on various forms of data: e.g. interviews with stem cell researchers, policy documents, media articles and press releases.