Infrastructural expectations: exploring the promise of international large-scale induced pluripotent stem cell banks

Abstract

This paper investigates the recent emergence of several major projects to bank and distribute large numbers of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) for translational research. The conceptual framework of the sociology of expectations is applied to interrogate the promise underpinning these developments. An analytic distinction is made between expectations associated with the field of hiPSC research more broadly and those specifically invested in cell banks as a form of scientific infrastructure, with the focus predominantly on the latter element. Empirical data for the analysis comes from qualitative interviews with stem cell scientists involved in a major European hiPSC banking project. In order to unpack these expectations, parallels to previous infrastructures of dissemination will be highlighted, with an emphasis on the functions of circulating and securing the quality of biological research materials.