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Taking support on the transformations which affect the relationship between the biomedical sciences in France and the other social spheres, which can be brought back to the more general process of contextualization of science, the article examines their effects on research partnerships and resulting scientific production modes. The analysis concerns the case of ISTEM, a laboratory the objective of which is to find therapeutic ways in certain rare diseases from the new research domain of human embryonic stem cells. This laboratory was created thanks to a long term partnership between the INSERM and the French Association against Myopathies. The analysis of its production process shows that it is home to three productive logics: that of the academic research, which is dominant, and those of gift and market which each leads to specific partnerships. This process is then similar to a productive combination, which is oriented and structured by the integrative model of convergence.