Work package 1.7

Hypothesis: Social, cultural and ethical values is important for new dietary treatments for infants.

Social, cultural and translational potentials

New interventions for (weak) human infants are controversial and sensitive. This WP investigates the dynamic relationship between ethical values, societal and commercial goals, and scientific evidence (31,32) in NEOMUNE. Translation from basic science to applied endpoints will be analyzed throughout the project period.

Methods

Ethnographic field work (33) is done at selected Chinese and European study sites where infant and animal studies are performed. We perform in-depth interviews with scientists, clinicians, parents and industry stakeholders. We investigate the practices through which NEOMUNE involves inter-species translation (among infants, pigs, mice), intra-species translation (between Chinese infants and European infants), and intra-organizational translation (between health care systems and regulatory contexts). Specific attention is given to how piglets become models of infants, how infants are recruited into studies, and how scientists, hospital staff and parents view the possibilities and limitations of NEOMUNE science.

Results

The analyses are published as independent social science articles and if appropriate, integrated with papers describing medical or dietary interventions. The work package will contribute to sustainable public health solutions, sensitive to the different cultural contexts of scientists, parents, medical staff and industry participants.