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The science & ethics of stem cell research

Over the last year published reports on the successful culturing of human embryonic stem cell lines have raised new ethical questions. Human pluripotent stem cells, which are capable of developing into multiple specialized cells and tissues, hold the promise of developing therapies for a variety of diseases and injuries. The promise of this therapy has been based on isolation of stem cells from the early stage of the embryo. Controversial sources for current stem cell lines include “excess” embryos at fertility clinics (those which will be destroyed) and fetal tissue from terminated pregnancies.

How does research in this area balance potential benefits to those suffering from disease with obligations of respect and dignity for the embryo as potential human life? Should federal funding support such research and is President Bush’s current limit, allowing research only with existing stem cell lines, ethically defensible? What industry relationships need to be explored in this research and how can patenting and intellectual property issues raised by research relationships be weighed with broader obligations to society?

On February 21, two events will provide opportunities to explore many of the questions surrounding stem cell research. The public discussion, entitled The Science and Ethics of Stem Cell Research (Everything You Always Wanted to Know), will be held at 7:30pm in the Winship Ballroom of the Dobbs University Center (DUC).

The evening’s discussion will be catalyzed by two guest faculty: Glenn McGee, PhD, Associate Director for the Center for Bioethics at University of Pennsylvania and Steven Stice, PhD, Associate Professor and Senior Research Scientist at University of Georgia. McGee is a frequent speaker and media commentator on the ethics of stem cell research. Stice, whose research focuses on developing innovative animal cloning techniques, serves as Vice President for human stem cell research at BresaGen Inc., which has four of the human embryonic stem cell lines approved for NIH funding. Dr. Donald Stein, Director of the Brain Research Laboratory in Emergency Medicine at Emory, will respond to the guest speakers.

Students are particularly encouraged to attend the afternoon workshop entitled Stem Cell Research, Public Policy and the Role of the University, which will be held from 4 to 6pm, also in the Winship Ballroom. The workshop will emphasize some of the legal and public policy issues raised by stem cell and related research and will also address the role of academic settings in such research, including ties with industry. Joining Drs. McGee and Stice in this session will be Claudia Adkison, JD, Ph.D, Executive Associate Dean for Administration and Faculty Affairs at the Emory School of Medicine and Bhaven Sampat, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology.

The Emory Center for Ethics is pleased to partner with Emory’s Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, the Emory School of Law and the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology in sponsoring these events.

[ Posted by Kathy Kinlaw at March 1, 2002 07:53 AM | More Health Science Ethics articles ]

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