The rapid rise of stem-cell-based embryo models comes with new ethical, technical, legal, and even conceptual challenges. With biologists, ethicists, philosophers, and lawyers both within and outside of the SUMO consortium, we establish criteria for standardization, lay-out frameworks for ethical evaluation, and further conceptualize embryo models as a tool for scientific discovery. We combine these scientific endeavors with an active role in the public debate and outreach, to ensure the field can progress with both public and scientific trust.
Current status:
We have outlined an ethical/regulatory framework for human stem cell derived embryo models that we have been invited to submit to Nature Cell Biology. The framework builds on the dynamic embedded ethics approach used in SUMO. In the reporting period, we have conducted a lab visit at the University of Oxford (October 2024), appointed a further member of the EAB, conducted quarterly ethics review meetings with the whole consortium, published 3 scientific papers, given 7 scientific presentations, and participated in 8 communication activities with policy makers and the wider research community.
An ethical/regulatory framework for human stem cell derived embryo models:
