Center for Biology and Society
Embryo Project
Directed by Jane Maienschein and Manfred Laubichler, the Embryo Project explores embryo research within historically changing complex contexts over time, and therefore provides a detailed case study of rapidly changing science within radically contested contexts. As with any science, embryo research is embedded in webs of unsettled scientific, ethical, legal, political, religious, cultural, and social negotiations that shape the conduct of science, its meanings, and the spectrum of decisions built upon these factors.
Understanding all the diverse issues and their connections requires the perspectives of multiple disciplines, and understanding interactions requires multi-disciplinary research strategies and methods. To this end, the Embryo Project is structured to explore the diverse agents of scientific change in a dynamic, interactive, integrative, interdisciplinary, international research environment.
In partnership with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and the Marine Biological Laboratory, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library, we are developing a collaboratory work environment to collect and compile materials in a web-based virtual laboratory. At the same time, we are establishing new ways of carrying out research and new ways of asking questions that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries.
Contacts: Jane Maienschein,
Manfred Laubichler
Center for Biology and Society, 480-965-8927