Human embryos in medical research:
Taboo? – Justifiable? – Chance?
9-10 October, 2023
 

Preliminary Agenda
 

(Confidential working draft, for speakers only)

9 October, 10:00 – 18:00

• Registration
• Opening and welcome
  German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF
• Greeting
  Gerald Haug, President of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina – National Academy of Sciences (Germany)
• Keynote lecture „Human cell biology at the earliest stages of development – perspectives for modern medicine”
  Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council, Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne (Germany) 
• Introduction into the field of concern
   Bettina Schöne-Seifert, Jochen Taupitz and Claudia Wiesemann; Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina – National Academy of Sciences (Germany)

Session 1: “Need of research on human embryos in vitro and ethical and legal implications“

• Perspectives of in vitro human embryo research 
  Kathy Niakan, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) 
• An Opportunity to Restore Reproductive Health
  Amander Clark, Department of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California (United States of America)
• The use of embryonic cells in research – challenges and obstacles in Germany
  Jan Ellenberg, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg (Germany)
• International legal comparison of embryo research
  Bartha Maria Knoppers, Centre of Genomics and Policy, McGill University (Canada)
• Challenges for an ethical-legal discussion  in a pluralistic society 
  Wolfgang Huber, former Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany
  Michael Quante, Department of Philosophy, University of Munster (Germany) 
  moderated by Christiane Woopen, Center for Life Ethics, University of Bonn (Germany)

• Panel discussion: “Do we want to dare this progress? - On the debate about human embryos in medical research"
  Selected speakers of the session,
  Alena Buyx, Chair of the German Ethics Council (Germany) 
  Claudia Wiesemann, Department for Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Center Goettingen  (Germany)
  Jan Ellenberg, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Heidelberg (Germany)
  Ulrich Willems, Institute für Political Science, University of Munster (Germany) (tbc)
  Almut Dorn, Psychosomatic Gynaeocology (Germany) (tbc)
   

9 October, 19:00 – 22:00

• Special lecture – open to the public
  James F. Childress, Center for Health Humanities and Ethics, University of Virginia, (United States of America) 
• Open discussion with snacks and drinks

10 October, 09:00 – 14:00

Session 2: “Stem cells and derivatives: scientific, ethical and legal implications”

• Potentials and limits of stem cell research their derivatives and organoids
  Christine Mummery, Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center (Netherlands)
• Therapeutic approaches using stem cells
  Fredrik Lanner, Karolinska Institute (Sweden)
• Discussion of ethical, legal and social aspects: Impulse talks and and panel discussion”
  - Challenges for the german research situation: Hans Schöler, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, (Germany) 

• - Legal classification: Hans-Georg Dederer, Chair of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Public International Law, European and International Economic Law, University of Passau (Germany) 
  - Perspective of the National Central Ethics Commission for Stem Cell Research (ZES): Antonio Autiero, Seminary of Moral Theology, University of Munster (Germany)
  - Patient perspective: N.N.
  - Societal perspective: N.N.
  - Ethical perspective: Bettina Schöne-Seifert, Institute for Medical Ethics, History and Philosophy of Medicine, University of Munster (Germany) 

• Interim summary of the plenary sessions and transition to the topics and objectives of the workshops
  Peter Dabrock, Institute for Systemic Theology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany)

10 October, 14:00 – 18:00

Workshops (multidisciplinary format for in-depth discussion of current issues)

• How to deal with surplus human embryos in vitro – ethical questions and legal implications for an application in research
  Moderator: Jochen Taupitz, Senior Professorship of Private Law, Law of Civil Procedure, Private International Law and Comparative Law,  Department of Law, University of Mannheim (Germany), rapporteur: tbd
• Legal framework for research on and with human embryonic stem cells, their derivates and their translation into medical application
  Moderator: Hans-Georg Dederer, Chair of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Public International Law, European and International Economic Law, University of Passau (Germany)
  rapporteur: tbd
• Summary of workshop result by rapporteurs
• Presentation of recommendations developed in workshops
  German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF

Closing Remarks
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF

The slider for “Speakers” below is yet under construction