The rise of the ethical license

Guerrini, Christi J.; Curnutte, Margaret; Sherkow, Jacob S.; Scott, Christopher Thomas

doi:10.1038/nbt.3756

Cited by 40 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 8 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…[93,94] From this perspective, it is one the most valuable merits of the past few years that active engagement between science and the public in the field of emerging biotechnologies has been intensified. [100][101][102] Even though there is a large number of empirical studies on public perceptions of different emerging biotechnologies, there are only a few which focus specifically on SB. [5,89,[95][96][97][98] Accordingly, different civil society organizations, stakeholders, and institutions aim to generate public engagement at a very early stage of the innovation process, rather than to educate people for the sake of greater acceptance of technology.…”

Section: In Science We Trust? Public Perceptions Of Sbmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But, indeed, they could lead to societal mistrust as well as to a negative reputation for a whole technological field. [100][101][102] Even though there is a large number of empirical studies on public perceptions of different emerging biotechnologies, there are only a few which focus specifically on SB. [103][104][105] In general, different empirical surveys address a very broad variety of estimations of and opinions on emerging biotechnologies.…”

Section: In Science We Trust? Public Perceptions Of Sbmentioning

confidence: 99%

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(Re‐)Designing Nature? An Overview and Outlook on the Ethical and Societal Challenges in Synthetic Biology

Braun

Fernau

2019

Adv. Biosys.

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to provide an initial systematization of the ethical and socio-scientific debate on SB by structuring and categorizing issues that have been widely discussed and debated in recent years. The investigation included international ethical and societal research on SB, covering the period from January 2010 to December 2017. Even though we are aware that there have been several developments before it was referred to as SB, [6] this sample period was selected as the experiments of Craig Venter and his team in the year 2010 marked the birth of broader public and scientific attention to SB, as well as the rise and further establishment of SB as a distinct research discipline.We predefined five main fields of ethical research in order to map the scope of the respective debates. These fields were based on theoretical presuppositions informed by our preliminary theoretical and empirical research and the resulting experiences within the field of ethical and societal challenges of SB. The five fields are: 1) the definition and scope of possible applications; 2) questions of biosafety and -security; 3) the impact of SB on taken-for-granted cultural perceptions and values; 4) SB as a new mode of public participation in science; 5) issues of sustainable governance and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). With these five fields in mind, we searched for relevant articles on Scopus and PubMed. These are two of the largest international research databases, which cover a broad spectrum of ethical and socio-scientific work within the context of biotechnologies. The selected search term was "synthetic biology" in combination with several distinctive codes, which can be assigned to the aforementioned predefined main fields of ethical research ( Table 1).In general, our literature analysis has several methodological limitations. As it is not a comprehensive systematic literature review, it does not provide a broad set of quantitative data scrutinizing all debates, issues and questions on the ethical and societal challenges in SB. Nevertheless, our analysis provides a structured overview on and an initial systematization of the most relevant topics within the discussion on SB in recent years. Additionally, this article aims to provide an analysis and discussion of the current state of play of ethical and societal issues in SB.The first section is concerned with the question of a possible definition of SB and the issue of how we could describe and analyze its technological progress with regard to ethical and societal challenges. As one frequent debate of the last few This structured literature analysis aims to map the current, emerging, and predicted future of synthetic biology (SB) by putting the focus on the implied conceptual, societal, and ethical challenges. The central objective of the analysis is to provide an initial systematization of the ethical and socio-scientific debate on SB by structuring and categorizing widely discussed issues within the debate in recent years. Starting with the quest for possible definitions, issues ...

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Section: In Science We Trust? Public Perceptions Of Sbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: In Science We Trust? Public Perceptions Of Sbmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Re‐)Designing Nature? An Overview and Outlook on the Ethical and Societal Challenges in Synthetic Biology

Braun

Fernau

2019

Adv. Biosys.

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“…For example, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a non-profit research institution that holds expansive patents on CRISPR-Cas9 technology. It prohibits its licensees from using CRISPR-Cas9 to modify human embryos, alter ecosystems or modify tobacco plants 8 . Similarly, Kevin Esvelt at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), also in Cambridge, holds a patent on a 'gene drive' that could be used to spread a particular genomic alteration throughout an animal population.…”

Section: Existing Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use the patent system to regulate gene editing

Parthasarathy¹

2018

Nature

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“…49 As exemplified by current developments in gene editing technologies, such licensing regimes could also be used as interim tools to address currently unsolved ethical dilemmas posed by emerging technologies that are not being sufficiently regulated by existing regulations and state law. 50 In that way, patents could be used as technology transfer and innovation policy tools rather than swords and shields.…”

Section: Property Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges for the Sustainability of University-Run Biobanks

Kongsholm

Christensen²,

Herrmann

et al. 2018

Biopreservation and Biobanking

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Most university biobanks begin like other university research projects, that is, with an idea conceived by an individual researcher in pursuit of his/her own research interests, publications, funding, and career. Some biobanks, however, come to have scientific value that goes beyond the projects that were initially responsible for the collection of the samples and data they contain. Such value may derive from among other things the uniqueness of the samples in terms of their sheer volume, the quality of the samples, the ability to link the samples with information retrieved in disease registries, or the fact that the samples represent very rare diseases. This article focuses on biobanks of this kind, and the special obligations that publicly funded universities have to ensure the sustainability of biobanks with continued scientific value. We argue that universities should adopt policies to deal with the various, diverse issues which may arise during the lifecycle of a biobank. The policies should be flexible, accommodate the freedoms of individual researchers, and reflect the multifaceted nature of biobanks. Yet they should be specific enough to provide guidance and robust enough to safeguard legal norms and ethical values. The article sets out concrete recommendations which universities should consider and act upon.

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The rise of the ethical license

Cited by 40 publications

References 8 publications

(Re‐)Designing Nature? An Overview and Outlook on the Ethical and Societal Challenges in Synthetic Biology

(Re‐)Designing Nature? An Overview and Outlook on the Ethical and Societal Challenges in Synthetic Biology

Use the patent system to regulate gene editing

Challenges for the Sustainability of University-Run Biobanks

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