From the pergonal project to Kadimastem: A genealogy of Israel’s reproductive-industrial complex

Abstract

In the Israeli "start-up nation" biotechnology has emerged as one of the most thriving knowledge-intensive industries. Particularly the med-tech and repro-tech sector are widely regarded as world-class in their ability to develop experimental therapies and medicines based on topnotch "pioneering" biomedical research. These developments have rightly been

Understanding digital health: Productive tensions at the intersection of sociology of health and science and technology studies

“…Unlike Schwennesen, van de Wiel does not examine clinicians and/or patient's engagement with the new technology. Rather, like Mills and Hilberg, she presents a rich and detailed account of the development of the new technology in its global context, tracing the ‘genealogy’ (following Vertommen ) of data‐driven embryo selection in the contemporary global fertility sector. As with Mills and Hilberg's paper, then, in addition to offering rich insight into ways in which new forms of algorithmic agency and authority are constituted, van de Wiel's work opens up further interesting avenues for research concerning how such agency and authority may be redistributed in different use practices.…”

“I6 passages: on the reproduction of a human embryonic stem cell line from Israel to France”

“…(Davidovitch and Seidelman 2004; Efron 2007). Sufian (2006, 390) for instance, described how Zionist scientists in the early twentieth century “used malariology to construct intellectual, scientific borders that mobilize the ‘the nation’ while improving its health.” Birenbaum-Carmeli and Carmeli (2010) and Vertommen (2017) reached similar conclusions on Israel's scientific research on human fertility and stem cells that is often described as “pioneering” or “frontier science.”…”

“…The I6 “Sabra” stem cell line constitutes an interesting entry point to understand the particularity of Israel's reproductive-embryonic sector, which for over two decades has been internationally acclaimed for its scientific excellence and commercial success. Since the field of stem cell research was established in 1998, Israeli scientists such as Benyamin Reubinoff, Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor, Michal Amit, Karl Skorecki, Dalit Ben-Yosef and Nissim Benvenisty have been at its “frontier” (Vogel 2002; Barilan and Siegal 2004; Prainsack 2006; Simonstein 2008; Birenbaum-Carmeli and Carmeli 2010; Ben-Or and Ravitsky 2010; Shalev and Hashiloni-Dolev 2011; Vertommen 2017). In 2002, Science Magazine lauded Israel as one of the top countries in stem cell research (UKSCI 2005).…”

“…In other words, rather than strictly focusing on cultural and religious narratives of “Jewishness” to understand the production of the I6 cell line, other socio-political entanglements should also be considered. This section analyzes the production and circulation of the I6 stem cell line within and across Israel's repronational “frontiers” by taking into account Zionism's demographic aspirations and Israel's leading position in the global bio-economy (Vertommen 2017).…”

The baby business booms: Economic geographies of assisted reproduction

“…As most of the fertility treatments worldwide take place in private clinics, it has become a booming business with ever more people accessing assisted reproductive technologies of all sorts from IVF, to IVF with donated gametes, genetic testing and screening, and surrogacy (Almeling, ; Bratcher Goodwin, ; Spar, ). It is estimated that the global market of assisted reproductive technology has generated revenues of 22.3 billion US$ in 2015 (Global market insight, ) with fertility drugs being a fast‐expanding pharmaceutical field (Vertommen, ). In short, the baby business booms and has gone global over the last decades.…”