This project analyzes fetoscopy as a network composed of objects and subjects that form an environment in which tools and ideas become meaningful parts of a reproductive technology. The objective is to identify how fetoscopy may be understood as the outcome of multiple social interactions by asking how research groups, patients, and their larger social and technical networks interact to develop the new reproductive technology (NRT) fetoscopy. Today, fetoscopy is being developed as two separate, yet similar, techniques: diagnostic embryofetoscopy and operative fetoscopy. While both procedures use a scope to make in utero diagnoses, they are used during different periods of gestation and have varied therapeutic goals including fetal gene therapy and surgery. To identify how persons create these new developments and how they may explicitly and implicitly create meaning from their experiences with the tools, this research utilizes an ethnographic study including participant observation, interviews, citation indexes and textual analyses of two hospitals developing fetoscopy

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
9710783
Program Officer
John P. Perhonis
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
1997-08-01
Budget End
1999-05-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
1997
Total Cost
$7,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Troy
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
12180