The Effects of Socio-Cultural Context on Human Bio-Markets.

该奖项支持的研究将调查社会文化背景对人类生物材料捐赠和销售治理的影响。在过去的几十年里，医学科学增加了人类生物材料的潜在用途。然而，随着创新的增加，有关成本、结果和道德的问题也在增加。为此，全球采取了各种不同的监管政策。各国之间的这种差异为比较研究提供了一个极好的机会，以了解政策差异在多大程度上为捐助者、受援国和其他利益攸关方带来了不同的结果。在这个项目中，研究人员将专注于生物材料捐赠的一个领域-在两种不同的文化背景下有偿捐赠人类卵子。这项研究的结果将有利于政策制定者，医疗专业人员，患者和提供者的倡导者。该项目还为研究生提供研究培训机会。这项研究将由加州大学旧金山弗朗西斯科的医学人类学家黛安·托伯博士与西班牙远程教育大学和康普顿斯大学的研究人员合作进行，这两所大学都位于西班牙马德里。之所以选择这些研究地点，是因为美国和西班牙是供体卵子生育治疗的两个主要地点，但它们的生物材料市场在截然不同的文化和监管环境中运作。美国对捐赠者的选择、补偿和身份识别的限制相对较少，而西班牙则受到高度监管，限制捐赠者的补偿，并要求捐赠者匿名。研究人员将通过在每个国家的两个或更多诊所进行人种学观察来收集数据;与生育行业的医疗专业人员和其他关键信息提供者进行访谈;以及对每个国家提供有偿卵子的妇女进行访谈和调查，包括有经验的和首次捐赠者。定量数据将采用标准统计方法进行分析;定性人种学数据将采用计算机辅助定性数据分析技术并通过叙述分析进行检查。在专业出版物和会议上发表的结果将帮助社会科学家了解潜在的文化逻辑如何为医疗市场的制作和监管以及人类生物材料的商品化提供信息。研究结果还将通过政策简报和公共论坛提供，以帮助需要了解监管差异如何影响结果的政策制定者，以及参与生物材料市场的患者和捐赠者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The research supported by this award will investigate the effects of socio-cultural context on the governance of human bio-material donation and sale. Over the past few decades, medical science has increased the potential uses of human bio-materials. However, as innovation has increased, so have questions about costs, outcomes, and ethics. In response, a variety of different regulatory policies have been adopted globally. This variation across countries provides an excellent opportunity for comparative research to see to what degree policy differences produce different outcomes for donors, recipients, and other stakeholders. In this project, researchers will focus on one area of bio-material donation -- compensated donation of human eggs -- in two different cultural contexts. Results from this research will benefit policy makers, medical professionals, and patient and provider advocates. The project also provides research training opportunities for graduate students. The research will be carried out by Dr. Diane Tober, a medical anthropologist from the University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with researchers from the Spanish University of Distance Education and from Complutense University, both in Madrid, Spain. These research sites were chosen because the United States and Spain are the two primary locations for donor egg fertility treatment, but their bio-material markets operate within dramatically different cultural and regulatory environments. The U.S. has comparatively few regulations limiting donor selection, compensation, and identification, while Spain is highly regulated, limits donor compensation, and requires donor anonymity. The researchers will collect data through ethnographic observation in two or more clinics in each country; interviews with medical professionals in the fertility industry and other key informants; and interviews and surveys of women in each country who provide eggs for pay, including both experienced and first-time donors. The quantitative data will be analyzed with standard statistical methods; the qualitative ethnographic data will be examined using computer-assisted qualitative data analytical techniques and through narrative analysis. Results, presented in professional publications and at conferences, will help social scientists understand how underlying cultural logics inform the crafting and regulation of medical markets and the commodification of human bio-materials. Results will also be made available through policy briefs and public fora to assist policy makers who need to understand how regulatory differences affect outcomes, as well as patients and donors who participate in bio-material markets.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.