Research on human embryos is restricted, by nongovernmental guidelines, to the first 14 days of their development in the United States, or to the formation of the primitive streak — an observable, early step in the formation of neural tissue. In 2016, scientists in the U.S. and the U.K. published reports on the first successful attempts to cultivate human embryos in vitro that survived for a full 14 days, stopping research for the first time because of the guideline. Many scientists and ethicists are now questioning the validity of the deadline. Is it an ethically justifiable point to end research? Or is it just a public policy tool to limit research that previously was only hypothetically possible? At this event, scientists, policy scholars and ethicists presented preliminary research on the 14-day limit on human embryo research from scientific, policy and ethical perspectives.
This event was sponsored by the Baker Institute Center for Health and Biosciences. Funding for this program was generously provided by a grant from The Greenwall Foundation.
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Agenda
8:00 am |
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Breakfast and Registration |
8:30 am |
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WelcomeNeal F. Lane, Ph.D. Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Ph.D. |
8:45 am |
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Panel I — Human embryo research: What we know, how we know it and what more we can learnModerated by: Jason S. Robert, Ph.D., Lincoln Chair in Ethics, Associate Professor of Life Sciences, and Director, Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, Arizona State University Daniel S. Wagner, Ph.D. Ali H. Brivanlou, Ph.D. |
10:00 am |
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Break |
10:10 am |
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Panel II — Human embryo research: U.S. policy landscape and ethical questions to considerModerated by: Inmaculada de Melo-Martin, Ph.D., Professor of Medical Ethics in Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Ph.D. Ana S. Iltis, Ph.D. |
11:30 am |
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Closing RemarksKirstin R.W. Matthews, Ph.D. |
Private workshop to follow, by invitation only