Science, Policy and Ethics Challenges of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Gametes

Immediately following the 2006 meeting, Transnational Cooperation in Stem Cell Research, members of the Hinxton Group Steering Committee, in collaboration with members of the Stem Cell Policy and Ethics Program (SCOPE) at the The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics began developing a follow-up project exploring the Science, Ethics and Policy Challenges of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Gametes.

The specific objectives of the project: 1) Create a road map for the benefit of policymakers and the public, providing best estimates of projected time horizons and relevant contextual information for likely scientific and clinical applications related to PSC-derived gametes; 2) Provide thorough, informed, forward-looking analyses of the challenges to societal regulation of the research and applications related to PSC-derived gametes (e.g., in the areas of somatic cell nuclear transfer research, assisted reproductive technology research and practice, and germ line modification); and 3) Provide guidance regarding appropriate oversight and ethically acceptable modes of pursuing this research, thereby reducing the likelihood that diversity in international response will result in obstacles to ethically and scientifically defensible research similar to those raised by existing differences in national policies governing stem cell research and nuclear transfer.

With the generous support of our funders, the international group - including scientists, clinicians, ethics & policy experts, lawyers and scientific journal editors - convened for a three-day meeting, April 9-11, 2008 at the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre, located in Hinxton, Cambridge, UK. The immediate result of this meeting was a Consensus Statement outlining a set of principled recommendations for how work in this area ought to proceed in the context of national variations in policy.

For further information on the Transnational Cooperation in Stem Cell Research meeting, please visit:

Meeting Overview : a summary of the purpose and proceedings of the meeting.

Chatham House Rule : an explanation of the rule the members of the Hinxton Group operated under throughout the meeting.

Hinxton Group Members : a list of the members of thefull Hinxton Group and their professional affiliations.

Reference Materials : a list of journal articles and reference documents, with links to the original text, used by members of the Hinxton Group during the meeting.

Funders : a list of funders whose generous donations made the meeting possible.

Meeting Participants:

Steering Committee

Peter J DONOVAN, PhD
Professor, Biological Chemistry,
Developmental & Cell Biology,
University of California - Irvine
2054 Hewitt Hall
Irvine, CA 92697
Phone: 949 824 3691
Fax: 949 824 6388
Email: pdonovan@uci.edu

Ruth FADEN, PhD, MPH
Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics
Executive Director, Berman Institute of Bioethics
Professor, Department of Health Policy & Management , School of Public Health
Professor, Department of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins University
624 North Broadway, Room 352
Baltimore, MD 21205-1996
Phone: 410 955 3018
Fax: 410 614 9567
Email: rfaden@jhsph.edu

John HARRIS, FMedSci, BA, DPhil
Lord Alliance Professor of Bioethics,
Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation,
School of Law, University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
Phone: +44 161 275 3473
Fax: +44 161 275 7704
Email: john.harris@manchester.ac.uk

Robin LOVELL-BADGE, PhD, FMedSci, FRS
Head, Division of Developmental Genetics, MRC National Institute for Medical Research
Division of Developmental Genetics, MRC National Institute for Medical Research
The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK
Phone: +44 020 8816 2126
Email: rlovell@nimr.mrc.ac.uk

Debra JH MATHEWS, PhD, MA
Assistant Director for Science Programs, Berman Institute of Bioethics,
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
The Johns Hopkins University
100 North Charles Street, Suite 740
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410 516 8602
Fax: 410 516 8504
Email: dmathews@jhmi.edu

Julian SAVULESCU, BMedSci, MB, BS, MA, PhD
Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics,
Director, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Littlegate House, St Ebbes
Oxford OX1 1P, UK
Phone: +44 1865 286888
Fax: +44 1865 286886
Email: julian.savulescu@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

Other Members

Philip AVNER, PhD
Senior Scientist - Institut Pasteur
Unit Director, Mouse Molecular Genetics Unit
Unite Genetique Moleculaire Murine
Institut Pasteur

Hannah BOURNE
Student, Monash University Melbourne
Oxford University
New College

Peter BRAUDE MA, PhD, FRCOG, FMedSci
Head of Department of Women’s Health, King’s College London
Director, Centre for Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis,
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, London

Liuhong CAI, MD, PhD
Director, Reproductive and Andrology Laboratory
Lecturer and Attending Physician
Department of Infertility & Andrology Medicine
The 3rd Affiliated Hospital of Zhongshan University

Sarah CHAN, BSc(Hons), LLB, MA(Health Care Ethics & Law)
Research Fellow, Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, University of Manchester

R Alta CHARO, JD
Warren P Knowles Professor of Law & Bioethics
University of Wisconsin Law School

Amander CLARK, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
Department of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative
Medicine and Stem Cell Research

Natalie DEWITT, PhD
Editor at Large, Nature Reports Stem Cells
Senior Editor, Nature

Ina DOBRINSKI, DrMedVet, MVSc, PhD
Associate Professor of Large Animal Reproduction
Marion Dilly and David George Jones Chair in Animal Reproduction
Director, Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research, Department of Animal Biology
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of Pennsylvania

Thomas DOUGLAS, BMedSc, MB ChB,
Senior Scholar and DPhil Candidate (Philosophy)
Oxford University

John EPPIG, PhD
Senior Staff Scientist
The Jackson Laboratory

Lixin FENG, PhD
Professor, Shanghai Stem Cell Institute
Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine

Niels GEIJSEN, PhD
Assistant Professor
Harvard Medical School, Harvard University
Center for Regenerative Medicine and Technology
Massachusetts General Hospital

Christer HÖÖG, PhD
Professor, Chairman, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet

Ching-Li HU, MD
Member, UNESCO International Bioethics Committee
Senior Adviser and Emeritus Professor, Ruijin Hospital—the Affiliated Teaching Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine;
Sr Adviser, Department of Ethics, Legal and Social Issues, Chinese Natl Human Genome Center at Shanghai;
Director of the Bioethics Committee, Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau;
Panel Member, of Intl Health, Ministry of Health Beijing

Ryuichi IDA, LLB, LLM
Professor of International Law, Kyoto University
Graduate School of Law and School of Government, Japan Member, Science Council of Japan

Mariella IMMACOLATO, MD
Director, Unit of Legal Medicine, Hospital of Massa and Carrara

S Matthew LIAO, DPhil
Deputy Director and James Martin Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University

Reinhard MERKEL, Prof, Dr
Institut für Kriminalwissenschaften
Universität Hamburg

Maurizio MORI, MA, PhD
Professor, Department of Philosophy
University of Turin

Alison MURDOCH, BSc, MD, FRCOG
Head, Newcastle Fertility Centre
BioScience Centre, International Centre for Life

Toshiaki NOCE, PhD
Mitsubishi Kagaku Institute of Life Sciences (MITILS)

Helen PICTON, PhD
Head, Reproduction and Early Development Research Group, University of Leeds, The Light laboratories

Beverly PURNELL, PhD
Senior Editor, Science Magazine
American Association for Advancement of Science

Alan REGENBERG, MBe
Senior Research Program Coordinator
Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University
Renee Reijo Pera, PhD
Director of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Stanford University

Carlos M ROMEO-CASABONA, Dr iur, Dr med, Dr h c mult
Professor in Criminal Law, Director, Inter-University Chair
BBVA Foundation - Provincial Government of Biscay
in Law and the Human Genome
University of Deusto / University of The Basque Country

Hans R SCHÖLER, PhD
Professor, Director of the
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine

Loane SKENE, LLB (Hons) (Melb), LLM (Mon)
Professor of Law, Faculty of Law,
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
University of Melbourne

Davor SOLTER, MD, PhD
Senior Principal Investigator, Institute of Medical Biology, Biomedical Science Institutes, A*STAR, Singapore
Professor, Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School

William C STUBING
President, The Greenwall Foundation

Jeremy SUGARMAN, MD, MPH, MA
Harvey M Meyerhoff Professor of Bioethics and Medicine
Deputy Director for Medicine, Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University

Azim SURANI, PhD, FRS, FMedSci
Mary Marshall and Arthur Walton Professor of Physiology and Reproduction
The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, The Henry Wellcome Building of Cancer and Developmental Biology, University of Cambridge

Giuseppe TESTA, MD, PhD, MA
Assistant professor, European School of Molecular Medicine
Laboratory of Stem Cell Epigenetics
European Institute of Oncology

James TURNER, MD, PhD
Division of Developmental Genetics and Stem Cell Research
MRC National Institute for Medical Research

Teresa K WOODRUFF, PhD
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology,
Northwestern University

Xiaomei ZHAI, MD, PhD
Executive Director, Center for Bioethics
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College
Professor & Director, Department of Social Sciences & Humanities