FULL REPORT AVAILABLE: The Ethics of Early Embryo Research &

November 7, 2016, 3:00 - 6:30 PM

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Check out presenters' slides from the event and recent publications below!

Description

For over 35 years, the “14-Day Rule,” prohibiting in vitro experimentation on embryos beyond 14 days, stood as an ethical line in the sand for embryo research around the world. Throughout the arc of the rule’s existence it had not been questioned, as scientists had been unable to grow embryos in vitro either up to, or beyond, 14 days; a practical limitation that served as a backstop to the ethical rule. However, in May 2016, labs in the U.S. and the U.K. were the first to report being able to sustain human embryos in vitro for up to 13 days. This development and other advances in in vitro research involving organized, embryo-like cellular structures raised a number of questions about the rule, its genesis, application, and future scope. This conference convened experts in bioethics, stem cell research, embryology, and law to discuss the ethical underpinnings and future scope of the rule. Questions discussed included:

What are the historical, ethical and scientific rationales for establishing the 14-Day Rule?
Should the 14-Day Rule be revisited in light of recent advances?
Should the 14-Day Rule even apply to research involving the in vitro culture of embryo-like cellular structures?

Agenda

Check out speakers' slide presentations below!

3:00pm, Introduction

Robert D. Truog, MD, Professor of Medical Ethics, Anaesthesiology & Pediatrics and Director of the Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School

3:05 - 3:45pm, Historical and Ethical Underpinnings of the 14-Day Rule in the U. S. and the U. K.

Insoo Hyun, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioethics and Philosophy, Department of Bioethics and Director, CWRU Stem Cell Ethics Center, Case Western Reserve University

3:45 - 4:45pm, Advances in Human Developmental Biology In Vitro

Gist Croft, PhD, Research Associate, Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Molecular Embryology, Rockefeller University
George Church, PhD, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Director, PersonalGenomes.org and John Aach, PhD, Lecturer, Harvard Medical School

4:45 - 5:05pm, Break

5:05 - 6:30pm, Panel Discussion: Future Scope of the 14-Day Rule

David DeGrazia, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health (U. S.) and Professor of Philosophy, George Washington University
Hank Greely, JD, Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law, Stanford Law School; Professor (by courtesy) of Genetics, Stanford School of Medicine; Director, Center for Law and the Biosciences, Stanford Law School
Roger Pedersen, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery and Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Cambridge University
Mahendra Rao, MD, PhD, Senior Scientific Advisor, The New York Stem Cell Foundation
Moderator: Insoo Hyun, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioethics and Philosophy, Department of Bioethics and Director, CWRU Stem Cell Ethics Center, Case Western Reserve University