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H2020Individual fellowship2015–2017

REGUCB · Regulating Umbilical Cord Blood Biobanking in Europe

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2015-10-01 → 2017-09-30
EU contribution
€195,455
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF

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Results in brief

Regulating Umbilical Cord Blood Biobanking in Europe

REGUCB is a research on how international, European and national regulations on Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) banking influence the bioeconomy of this field of biomedicine, that is the collection, banking, research and clinical application of UCB derived stem cells. The aim of REGUCB is to understand how this bioeconomy is structured, how value is produced and what are the main societal issues related. REGUCB aims at offering a novel approach to Science and Technology Studies (STS) of current biomedicine and its economic and societal implications. It has developed a new analytical model for analyzing the production of value in UCB economy and for considering the embeddedness of UCB banking in social relations. REGUCB points to contribute to the general debate and policy interests into the emerging bioeconomy. Both the European Union, National States and international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have invested in this emerging field of knowledge-based economy that aims to produce value from biological products and processes for creating new growth and welfare benefits. REGUCB, by focusing on a particular field of biomedicine aims to offer a better understanding not only of the process of value production but also of societal implications. REGUCB analyses UCB banking addressing the entanglement of value production and social relationships that links individuals, families and the general society with the related obligations, social bonds and forms of solidarity. It therefore aims to offer useful policy suggestions to improve the sector at the European level in a socially responsible way.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The research proposed for this fellowship is a study of the establishment of national and European regulation on Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) biobanking in a comparative perspective (the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) and with an in-depth analysis of the implementation of regulation in the everyday practice of UCB practi-tioners, through a bi-national comparison in the UK and Italy. The first scientific aim is to offer an empirically grounded understanding of how regulations and their practical implementation influence the conducting of biosci-entific research and shape the structuring of different bioeconomy regimes in UCB science and clinical applica-tion. The second scientific aim is to contribute to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) by develop-ing an analytical approach combining macro-analysis on policy-making and regulations with meso- and micro-level analyses on the practical accomplishment of enacting regulations in everyday research practices, for offering a more comprehensive understanding of governance and policy-making in the field of biomedicine which inte-grate the role of structural factors with that of the agency of actors involved. Given the importance assigned by the European Union to the development of stem cell research and the coordination of biobanks, the proposed research aims also to offer useful policy suggestions for improving the harmonization and optimization of the EU circuit of supply of UCB units for biological research and medical applications. I will diffuse to practitioners and regulators the findings of the research related to the comparative analysis on national regulations, on the ways in which these interact with the EU directives and on how practitioners manage and enact compliance with national regulations, international directives and the exigencies of the global circulations of biomedical objects, standards, and proto-cols in biobanking.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union