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The Race Is On: Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Goes Global

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Abstract

More nations are joining the human embryonic stem cell (hESC) “race” by aggressively publishing in the peer-reviewed journals. Here we present data on the international use and distribution of hESC using a dataset taken from the primary research literature. We extracted these papers from a comprehensive dataset of articles using hESC and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). We find that the rate of publication by US-based authors is slowing in comparison to international labs, and then declines over the final year of the period 2008–2010. Non-US authors published more frequently and at a significantly higher rate, significantly increasing the number of their papers. In addition, international labs use a more diverse set of hESC lines and Obama-era additions are used more in non-US locations. Even considering the flood of new lines in the US and abroad, we see that researchers continue to rely on a few lines derived before the turn of the century. These data suggest “embargo” effects from restrictive policies on the US stem cell field. Over time, non-US labs have freely used lines on the US registries, while federally funded US scientists have been limited to using those lines approved by the NIH.

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Acknowledgements

MCD and JBMc contributed equally. JBMc was supported by an NSF grant (SBE 0949708) and NIH National Center for Research Resources (UL1 RR024150-4). J.O.-S was supported by NSF grants (SBE-0949708 and SES-0545634) CTS is supported by the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. The authors thank Molly Havard, Brittany Kimball, Katherine Nowakowski, Leona Han, and Jenny Ostergren for their valuable assistance with the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program on Stem Cells in Society, Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Mindy C. DeRouen & Christopher Thomas Scott

  2. General Internal Medicine & Health Care PolicyResearch, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Jennifer B. McCormick

  3. Sociology and Organizational Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Jason Owen-Smith

  4. The National Core for Neuroethics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Christopher Thomas Scott

Authors
  1. Mindy C. DeRouen
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  2. Jennifer B. McCormick
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  3. Jason Owen-Smith
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  4. Christopher Thomas Scott
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mindy C. DeRouen or Jennifer B. McCormick.

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DeRouen, M.C., McCormick, J.B., Owen-Smith, J. et al. The Race Is On: Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Goes Global. Stem Cell Rev and Rep 8, 1043–1047 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12015-012-9391-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12015-012-9391-6

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