The UCLA Center for Society and Genetics will host a symposium
Sunday on the role of embryonic stem cell research in society, with
speakers discussing how the science relates to fields including
business and law.
The forum, titled “Stem Cells: Promise and Peril in
Regenerative Medicine,” will involve participants with
backgrounds in about 10 different academic fields, reflecting the
center’s focus on an interdisciplinary approach toward
examining issues related to genetics.
Stem cells taken from embryos, which are fertilized eggs that
have begun cell division, are “pluripotent,” meaning
they have the potential to develop into different types of cells.
Embryonic stem cell research may one day yield therapies for
diseases ranging from cancer to neurological disorders.
Among other topics, speakers at the symposium will discuss both
the way the media covers stem cell-related stories and Proposition
71, the measure Californians passed in 2004 to fund stem cell
research with a $3 billion bond.
Russell Korobkin and Stephen Munzer, UCLA School of Law faculty,
will talk about legal questions raised by stem cell research. The
two will present what they feel are the most important and
interesting legal issues related to stem cells, including federal
and state laws regulating the research and ownership of biological
materials.
Korobkin said that while legal experts tend to focus on narrow
subjects such as how patents affect stem cell research, he and
Munzer are hoping to give a general overview of how the law relates
to today’s research.
“What we’re trying to do is think broadly. …
We’ve tried to take the first crack to identify the range of
issues,” Korobkin said.
“Really, this is a snapshot of the law relating to stem
cell research at a particular time,” he added. “The
legal landscape could look completely different in a year or
two.”
One aspect of the symposium is the “promise” in this
field of medicine.
“The promise is surely cures for these terrible
diseases,” said Sally Gibbons, associate director of the UCLA
Center for Society and Genetics. Alzheimer’s disease,
Parkinson’s disease and AIDS, among other ailments, may all
be treated one day with therapies derived from stem cell
research.
If realized, advances in medicine based on the research could
also hold an economic benefit for the health care industry and
others. On the opposite end, “the peril has to do with a
range of ethical issues,” Gibbons said.
Many people argue that taking stem cells from human embryos for
research is immoral. President Bush has referred to embryonic stem
cell research as a “science which destroys life in order to
save life.”
Among newer questions the research has raised is what to do in
the case of “stem cell chimeras,” Gibbons said.
These chimeras would be created by scientists injecting human
tissue into animals to test therapies derived from stem cell
research. Gibbons said the concern is what kind of rights the
animal would have and how much human tissue an animal would need to
contain before it becomes in some way “human.”
The symposium, scheduled to be held from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. in the Grand Horizon Room in Covel Commons on Sunday, is free
and open to the public.
To learn more, visit
www.societyandgenetics.ucla.edu.