Postdoc Project
The project "Storing Vitality, Ensuring Health" forms part of the
ERC-funded research project "CRYOSOCIETIES - Suspended Life: Exploring
Cryopreservation Practices in Contemporary Societies".
Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is a rich source of haematopoietic (i.e.
blood-forming) stem and progenitor cells used in treating a variety of
serious disorders. Collection takes place by immediate clamping of the
umbilical cord after birth. In the early 2000s, regenerative medicine
emerged as a promissory biomedical field and speculation about future
treatments using stem cells fuelled the rapid rise of commercial cord
blood banking. Private cryobanks provide services for autologous
applications (i.e. using one’s own UCB) for either specific disease
indications (cancer or rare genetic diseases) or anticipated
regenerative therapies that might be available in the future (to cure
conditions ranging from tissue damage to neurodegenerative diseases to
blood disorders).
The ethnographic study in this subproject will
focus on the speculative value of cryopreserved UCB. By exploring the
promissory dimensions of cryopreserved UCB in Germany, this case study
will examine the regimes of prevention informing UCB banking. Focusing
on a country with a long tradition in “social insurance” and a
comparatively conservative regulatory framework in using biological
material, this case study is uniquely placed to explore how the
“suspended life” of UCB intersects with moral, religious, political and
commercial practices. Fieldwork will be done in facilities of private
and public UCB banks in Germany. It will include participant observation
of the collection, testing, processing, freezing, storage and use of
UCB as well as interviews with women who have banked in the cord blood
banks under investigation, with staff and lab scientists involved with
the processing and cryopreservation of UCB and with healthcare providers
who have assisted with UCB collection.
Further Information
