Abstract
In this paper we develop a geography of science framework to examine the social, scientific and medical dimensions of human embryonic stem cell research. We outline David Livingstone's approach to geographies of science as “sites of speech and locations of locution” to explore the spatial shaping of science and the scientific shaping of space. Drawing upon our ongoing research on the problems and prospects of stem cell science, particularly the interactions between the bench and the bedside in the field of diabetes, we examine the influence of seminal papers on laboratory and clinical practices, and the subsequent transformation of the spaces of science on several spatial scales. We investigate the laboratory production of scientific knowledge, particularly how scientists choose which research to pursue in “scientific-landscapes-in-the-making”. Finally, we explore how diverse disciplinary spaces deconstruct the stem cell transplant approach to diabetes. In conclusion, we argue that this “places of performance” perspective proffers a productive approach to understanding the shaping of contested “embryonic landscapes”.
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