Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
illness or dysfunction in order to preserve good health for as long as
possible will start to give way to a view of the body as something
much more disposable than it currently is. It might also be imagined
that public health campaigns that focus on protecting the body as a
precious resource will be rendered less effective in an environment
where new tailor-made organs might be easily grown from a small
sample collected from the individual who requires one.
Finally, an emerging possibility for iPSC technology is in conservation
research. Researchers reported in September 2011 that they were able
to use cryopreserved skin specimens of two critically endangered
species to make gametes via induced pluripotency (Ben-Nun et al.,
2011). The specimens were part of the Frozen Zoo held at San Diego
Zoo, California. The Frozen Zoo is a sample collection that was
initiated in the early 1970s in the hope that one day science would be
sophisticated enough to replenish endangered or extinct species.
While such an idea has long been the subject of science fiction, the
very practical achievements reported in September 2011 using induced
pluripotency have made such speculative possibilities one step closer.
If it could be shown that gametes produced in this way could form
viable offspring then an intriguing process of species conservation
might be a more viable possibility than is currently the case.
6.2.1 Centralizedproduction
To date, it would seem that one of the core commercial strategies
being adopted in the stem cell industries is the use of centralized
production facilities. The small scale of iPSC technology at this stage
means that relatively small companies can support most, it not all, of
their commercial activities on site. Via on-site clean rooms, companies
like Cellular Dynamics International (
http://www.cellulardynamics.
com
) are able to produce the products in-house that they sell directly
to consumers. This is a well-established business model based on
quite traditional Fordist forms of production. For the global
biotechnology industries, the clean room is the knowledge economy's
equivalent of the factories of the industrial era.
