I was invited as a discussant for the 6th Biannual Meeting of the Centre for Bionetworking, based at Sussex University, held in mid-July 2014. The Centre for Bionetworking is host to two projects, funded by the ERC and ESRC, and supports the tracing of the ‘managerial, experimental, infrastructural, regulatory and cognitive activities that make up knowledge about life, health and medicine’ (Bionetworking 2014).

Focusing on stem cell therapies and networks, the works in progress presented by the group demonstrated the scope and ambition of their studies. We heard about the role of the nation state and state regulation in transnational processes, the strategies of researchers relative to these, and the permeability of practices which get the perhaps unhelpful names competition and collaboration. These were raised alongside writing and conceptual discussions: how do metaphors used in describing networks shape analysis, and with what effects? I was a discussant for papers by Achim Rosemann and Hung-Chieh Chang, and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to engage with their work in progress.