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Opinion and Comment

Nature Biotechnology 25, 398–401 (1 April 2007) | doi:10.1038/nbt0407-398

Research sharing, ethics and public benefit

Patrick L Taylor

New ethical guidelines of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR; Northbrook, IL) for work on human embryonic stem (ES) cells direct researchers, companies and academic institutions to share research materials, data and intellectual property (IP) rights necessary for published research to be validated and for other scientists to conduct further research. The guidelines are not only important for human ES cell research, but also send a compelling message to the academic and corporate biomedical communities at large, which continue to wrestle with the effects of academic competition and commodity-driven corporate forces on the scientific endeavor.