Introduction by Catherine Norton, MBLWHOI Library

Lecture Abstract:
The U.S. federal government and many states are considering legislation either to endorse and fund or to prohibit stem cell research. President George W. Bush has expressed his opposition through an Executive Order to prohibit using federal funds for human embryonic stem cell research. Why? Do they even know what are they talking about? And why all the fuss? In fact, MBL luminary E.B. Wilson first named an early version of “stem cells,” and the first stem cell experiment was done by one of the MBL’s early trustees, Ross Harrison, when he transplanted neuroblast cells into a tissue culture. This was the first successful culture of tissues outside the body ever, and it was done with frog cells, but set research on track toward human cultures of cells and tissues. A rich history of studies of cell and tissue transplantation followed and has led to current stem cell research. Today the NIH demands “translation” of laboratory research into clinical therapies. In all this fuss and bother, is there anything new under the sun? What is at issue with today’s research, and what can we learn from the past efforts to turn from transplantation research to translational results?

Jane Maienschein is Regents' Professor and Parents Association Professor and Director of the Center for Biology and Society at Arizona State University and co-director of the Seminar in the History of Biology course at the MBL. Dr. Maienschein specializes in the history and philosophy of biology and the way that biology, bioethics, and biopolicy play out in society. Focusing on research in embryology, genetics, and cytology, Dr. Maienschein combines detailed analysis of the epistemological standards, theories, laboratory practices and experimental approaches with study of the people, institutions, and changing social, political, and legal context in which science thrives. She has received numerous faculty and teaching awards and is committed to public education about biology and its human dimensions. She is the author and co-editor of a dozen books, many book chapters and articles including Whose View of Life? Embryos, Cloning, and Stem Cells and three books related to MBL history Transforming Traditions in American Developmental Biology; 100 Years Exploring Life: An Autobiography of the Marine Biological Laboratory; and Defining Biology. Lectures from the 1890s. She received a B.A. in History, the Arts, and Letters from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science from Indiana University. Dr. Maienschein served as Visiting Scholar at Harvard University from 1983 to 1984, Visiting Professor at Stanford in 1987, Science Advisor to Congressman Matt Salmon in 1997 and 1998, and Senior Fellow at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology in the spring of 2002.

Catherine Norton will introduce Dr. Maienschein.  Ms. Norton is the Director of the MBLWHOI Library and Director of Information Technology for the MBL. She received a B.S. from Regis College and a Masters of Library Science from Simmons College. Ms. Norton is the principal investigator on a number of projects at the MBL, including a grant from the National Library of Medicine for Medical Informatics and the Universal Biological Indexer and Organizer (uBio). She is a member of numerous professional library and information technology organizations, including the American Library Association, American Society for Information Specialists, American Medical Information Association, and the International Association for Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers. Ms. Norton is currently serving as the President of the Boston Library Association. In April 2006, she was inducted into the Louis Round Wilson Academy's Knowledge Trust, a newly formed academy of worldwide leaders in information technology.