The Acid Test for Biological Science | Cheryl Lancaster | TEDxDurhamUniversity

In 2014, Nature published work describing a process that would convert any cell into a stem cell. The lead author of the work, Haruko Obokata, became an overnight celebrity, but the excitement was short lived. Scientists around the world were unable to replicate the experiment, and the results were thought to be dubious at best. This case study is used as an example to highlight the role of trust in the scientific community, and the importance of replication in science.

Cheryl Lancaster is in the unusual position of holding doctorates in both cell biology and history of science. Her most recent research project, “A History of Embryonic Stem Cell Research”, looks at how more than 200 years of science, politics, economics, and society have shaped our understanding of the embryo and stem cell research. She also works on ethics and fraud in biomedical science, and was the first to publish a comprehensive overview of the fraud accusations against the Japanese researcher Haruko Obokata. Cheryl is currently the Director of the Masters in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine at Durham University.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx