processes.
Below is a video of my external contact: Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic
Monday, November 2, 2009
CHELSEA BRIGANTI: NOV.2ND REVISION
The feedback that I received today from Len, Mary and my peers has motivated me to delve deeper into what issues I am trying to address. In theory, I would like to address a design problem within the everyday processes of a stem cell scientist. There is an intrinsic problem within the field that I will inevitably have to address: lack of education. Though this will not be my primary focus, it has already embedded itself into my thesis project by default, through the inherently complex nature of my topic. My next steps are to meet with my external contacts, Gordana and Amandine at Columbia Tissue Engineering Labs. I will be closely observing their laboratory experiments on Wednesday and beginning a photo-essay, documenting their environment, tools and
Below is a video of my external contact: Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic
Below is a video of my external contact: Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic
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2 comments:
Chelsea,
I watched the film about the scientist, very cool stuff. I am not completely sure that I understand what they are doing, but it appears to focus on manufacturing replacement parts for people (!) that can be made partly of a cartelige-like substance and partly a bone-like substance. I guess that both of these are grown artificially from stem cells, so this is really mind-blowing. It seems to me that once these techniques are perfected, an industry for producing organs, limbs and other "spare parts" is inevitable. What will a world like that look like? I strongly recommend the book .
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro, which deals with this subject in a very thoughtful way.
Now: I have a feeling that you are going to pull off a great project, but you have to admit that you need to ramp up your output, and quick. I think that you have not really settled on a theme. I am not sure if you plan on developing a product that will be used by scientists as they carry out their research (I am very leery about this prospect, by the way), or something that addresses the social and political impasse created by people who believe that stem cell research somehow is based on unethical principles, because cell lines were originally derived from discarded embryos. I personally don't believe that those people care about embryos really, and that this is a phony issue drummed up for political reasons, and gullible people are being manipulated to do terrible, irresponsible things, and people are suffering horrible, premature deaths because of this. Making a product that "teaches" people who refuse to be rational or listen to logical arguments may be a losing cause. After all, these are people who are OK with prohibiting important research that can save people's lives now because of this phony issue.
I think that you should consider working on a purely speculative product, in a category that doesn't exist today, but might become needed if this kind of spare-parts medicine begins to be incorporated into standard treatments. Imagine the products that will be needed to package and store these parts. I know it sounds a little gruesome, but products are always needed to support new technologies, and I think that you are on the right track here. You always want to be thinking about products that will be needed in five years, because that's how long the development cycle is, especially when products are based on emerging technologies that are still the subject of scientific research.
steven
Hi Steven--
Thanks so much for your insight. I am working on my new board for this Monday, and I think you will find that I am headed into the speculative region of this amazing field, which is quite compelling. One thing I wanted to ask you: about the first embryos being discarded and then used by scientists for research...did you read this somewhere? I am researching the origins of the very first derived embryos right now---they still use discarded embryos from IVF clinics, as well aborted remains, but where the first embryos came from is interesting. Thanks for the book--see you Monday!
Chelsea
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