Aihwa Ong is Robert H. Lowie Distinguished Chair in Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, the author of
This chapter explores the world of stem cell research, a high-stakes field of rapidly changing innovations that poses difficult technical and ethical challenges for developing immunology. The ethical debates over stem cell research in the United States, combined with historical strengths in livestock breeding in Asia, created an opportunity for the development of stem cell research as a distinctly Asian field. As researchers attempt to use stem cells for modeling diseases, they continue to be haunted by the question of whether and when induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells will ever be viable and useful for developing medicine for autoimmune diseases. Experiments with iPS cell technologies also have larger implications for our changing notions of the cell, the Asian body, and the body politic. Finally, the prominence of researchers of Asian ancestries in cellular research worldwide has led to the view that it is an arena of “Asian” specialty and intra-“Asian” rivalry, thus adding uncertainty to this competitive field.
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