Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy: Considering the Future of U.S. Policy on "Three-Parent IVF"
Couldn't join us? Check out the conversation on Twitter: @PetrieFlom #MRTpanel and some of our speakers' slide presentations below!
Learn more about the issues! Check out media coverage supporting the Petrie-Flom Center's initiative to discuss lifting the prohibition on MRT in the United States, and a news article about the event in Stat News!
- The Editorial Board, "This Editorial Is Not about Designer Babies", New York Times (April 12, 2019)
- Emily Mullin, "Patient advocates and scientists launch push to lift ban on ‘three-parent IVF’," Stat News (April 16, 2019)
Description
A 2015 Congressional amendment precludes Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT), a life-saving IVF-based procedure that could prevent a plethora of mitochondrial DNA diseases in the U.S. Individuals do not, at present, have access to this technology to prevent the devastating consequences of mitochondrial DNA disease. At the same time, MRT continues to move forward in other countries, such as the UK.
Has the time come to revisit the federal prohibition of this preventive therapy and research?
Expert panelists discussed the future of MRT policy in the U.S., reviewing the latest technological developments, the regulatory barriers, and the ethical challenges affecting the clinical application of MRT.
This event was free and open to the public.
Speakers
Welcome
- I. Glenn Cohen, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School
Opening Remarks
- Eli Y. Adashi, Professor of Medical Science, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Panel Discussion
- Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Principal Investigator and Director of the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, Senior Scientist in the Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences of ONPRC, and Professor in Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Pediatrics, and Molecular & Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University
- Dietrich M. Egli, Assistant Professor of Developmental Cell Biology (in Pediatrics), Columbia Stem Cell Initiative
- Cesar Palacios-Gonzalez, Career Development Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
- Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Director, Program on Science, Technology, and Society, Harvard Kennedy School
- Moderator: I. Glenn Cohen, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School
Learn More
Selected readings on MRT policy in the U.S. and abroad
- The Editorial Board, "This Editorial Is Not about Designer Babies", New York Times (April 12, 2019)
- Emily Mullin, "Patient advocates and scientists launch push to lift ban on ‘three-parent IVF’," Stat News (April 16, 2019)
- Eli Y. Adashi and I. Glenn Cohen, Going Germline: Mitochondrial Replacement as a Guide to Genome Editing, Cell (February 2016)
- I. Glenn Cohen, Julian Savulescu, and Eli Y. Adashi, Transatlantic lessons in regulation of mitochondrial replacement therapy, Science (April 2015)
- César Palacios-González, Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques and Mexico’s Rule of Law: On the Legality of the First Maternal Spindle Transfer Case, Journal of Law and the Biosciences (2017)
- Eunju Kang, Jun Wu […] ShoukhratMitalipov, Mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes carrying pathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations, Nature (December, 2016)
- Eunju Kang, Jun Wu […] Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Author Correction: Mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes carrying pathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations, Nature (March, 2019)
- Engelstad K, Sklerov M, Kriger J, Sanford A, Grier J, Ash D, Egli D, DiMauro S, Thompson JL, Sauer MV, Hirano M, Attitudes toward prevention of mtDNA-related diseases through oocyte mitochondrial replacement therapy, Human Reproduction (May, 2016)
- Alex Pearlman, The Babies at the Fringes of Fertility Tech: Beyond the reach of U.S. law, doctors are changing the way babies are made, Medium (July 2018)
- Institute of Medicine, Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Ethical, Social, and Policy Considerations, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (February, 2016)
- Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Novel techniques for the prevention of mitochondrial DNA disorders: An ethical review (June, 2014)
Slide Presentations
- Cesar Palacios-Gonzales: "Regulation and Ethics of MRTs"
- Shoukrhat Mitalipov: "Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy"
- Sheila Jasanoff: "Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy: Considering the Future of U.S. Policy on 'Three-Parent IVF'"
- Dieter Egli: "Towards Clinical Use of Mitochondrial Replacement"
- Eli Y. Adashi: "Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy: Considering the Future of US Policy"
Sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, with support from the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.
Videos
VIDEO: Welcome and Opening Remarks by I. Glenn Cohen and Eli Y. Adashi
VIDEO: Shoukhrat Mitalipov, "Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy"
VIDEO: Dietrich M. Egli, "Towards Clinical Use of Mitochondrial Replacement"
VIDEO: Cesar Palacios-Gonzalez, "Regulation and Ethics of MRTs"
Tags
bioethics biotechnology genetics health law policy international public health regulation reproductive rights reproductive technologies