Sur la base d'une enquête empirique auprès de chercheurs de deux campus universitaires, les auteurs proposent de rendre compte de l'influence des évolutions des sciences de la vie sur les carrières et les pratiques académiques. La préoccupation croissante des universitaires à l'égard de la commercialisation de la recherche est à l'origine de lignes de clivage inédites et de nouveaux critères de reconnaissance. Ces évolutions sont le produit d'opportunités de financement, d'une transformation des missions structurant les politiques des universités et de l'essor de nouvelles technologies de recherche qui favorisent le rapprochement entre la recherche fondamentale et le développement de produits issus de son application. Grâce à l'analyse approfondie d'entretiens, les auteurs mettent en évidence l'émergence de modèles de comportements des universitaires face aux opportunités commerciales qui se multiplient dans le domaine des sciences de la vie.

Drawing on interviews with more than 80 scientists on two university campuses, we create a typology that offers insights into how transformations in the nature and locus of life science innovation influence academic careers and work practices. Our analyses suggest that a strong outcome of increased academic concern with research commercialization is the appearance of new fault lines among faculty, between faculty and students, and even between scientists' interests and those of their institutions. We argue that life science commercialization is driven by a mix of new funding opportunities, changing institutional mandates for universities, and novel research technologies that bring basic research and product development into much closer contact. The rise of patenting and commercially motivated technology transfer on U.S. campuses is altering faculty work practices and relationships, while transforming the criteria by which success is determined and rewards are allocated. Through close analysis of interviews with four researchers who typify a range of academic responses to commercialism, we demonstrate emerging patterns of conflict and agreement in faculty responses to commercial opportunities in the life sciences.