Today marks the beginning of a special conference hosted by the Center for Biomedical Ethics on human embryonic stem cell and organ transplantation research.
The conference is bringing together students, faculty, doctors and scholars to discuss the ethical, legal and scientific aspects of the innovative field of study, along with several speakers.
Conference organizer Jonathan Moreno, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics, said University scholars have been heavily involved in national discussion and efforts to create policies regarding the research being discussed at the conference.
"People need to learn more about [embryonic stem cell research] as arguments become more complicated," Moreno said.
The topic has taken on greater significance due to the recent admission by South Korean scientists that they faked what many believed was ground-breaking embryonic stem cell research.
"They shouldn't have done that," Moreno said. "That was wrong."
Moreno has served on a national academy on human embryonic stem cell research that has drafted guidelines for the research to keep it in an ethical realm.
Religious Studies Prof. Jim Childress is one of the speakers for the two-day conference. He is discussing living organ donation ethics and policy.
One of the most prominent issues in this field of study is using living donors for kidney and liver transplants, which Childress said he will include in his address.
Childress said a major ethical concern with living transplantation is taking a liver or a kidney from someone and risking the health of living donors to put it in someone who is not healthy.
He said he strongly supports human embryonic stem cell research, believing it is promising but that its potential has not been reached.
"It's something we ought to provide federal funds for," Childress said.
Childress added that federal funding is a significant part of the debate.
Other speakers for the two-day event include Daniel Brock of Harvard Medical School, who will discuss ongoing controversies and ethical issues in stem cell research.
Also speaking is Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania, who will speak on the use of tissue-based medicine now and in the future.
Moreno added that experimental integrity is especially important in this field, especially in light of the recent event in South Korea.
"Science does have a way of checking itself out," Moreno said. "It's harder to get away with a lie in science than it is in life."
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