Human Cerebral Organoids Research Retreat

Recently a number of Novel Beings Network members attended a fantastic research retreat (8-12 August 2022) hosted by network member Professor Gardar Arnason and colleagues at the Ethics of Genome Editing unit, Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, in collaboration with colleagues at the Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam.

The retreat focussed on the ethical, legal, and social aspects of human cerebral organoids, and their governance in Germany, the UK, and the USA. Cerebral organoids- self-organising collections of hundreds of thousands of human neurons- have potential applications in personalised medicine, neuromedicine, drug testing, and brain development studies. Most relevantly for the NBN, they are the subject of intense debate over the development and sources of of consciousness and moral status, with studies suggesting potentially meaningful electrical activity, the formation of sensory apparatus, and ever increasing complexity reminiscent of early-stage human foetal neural development. This is certainly a technology for members of the NBN to keep a close eye on!

Two members of the network- Dr Alex McKeown and Dr David Lawrence- formed the UK Expert Panel partway through the week, both sharing some reflections relating to work they have done as part of the project. Other network members also participated as speakers, including Dr Joshua Jowitt and Professor Arnason, and we were pleased to recruit some new members in the wake of our discussions. Look out for what promise to be a range of publications stemming from everything we learned at the retreat, as well as a forthcoming edited collection featuring contributions from all those present.

The retreat included some time in the laboratories of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), which helped put this amazing biotechnology into perspective- thanks to the staff there for their generosity.

You can find out more about the retreat at the website and twitter feed of the Ethics of Genome Editing Research Unit.

Thanks to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for funding the retreat and our attendance.