4 / 2022 // LEOPOLDINA / NEWS 9
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Bettina
Schöne- Seifert ML , member of the working group “ Brain Organoids ” Professor and of Medical Ethics , on the ethical evaluation of research on brain organoids .
Image : Hannes von der Fecht | Leopoldina
Hans Schöler ML
Head of an Emeritus Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster / Germany , where he was Director from 2004 to 2021 . He works on the reprogramming of stem cells and carries out research on brain organoids . He has been a member of the Leopoldina since 2004 .
Image : J . Müller-Keuker | MPI Münster
of neurological and psychiatric diseases . In addition , the effects of drugs , toxins , germs or viruses on human brain cells and brain development can be studied . For example , by using brain organoids it has been possible to show evidence of a causal link between a Zika virus infection and the development of microcephaly .
As a brain organoid contains individual genetic information on the person
“ In the foreseeable future , research on and with brain organoids in vitro will not raise any ethical or legal issues requiring regulation .”
from whom the tissue cells have been taken , research with brain organoids also promises new discoveries that are specific to patients , for example regarding the individual action of specific drugs .
A further conclusion : In the foreseeable future , research on and with brain or-
Jürgen Knoblich
Scientific Director at the Institute for Molecular Biotechnology ( IMBA ) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna / Austria and Professor of Synthetic Biology at the Medical University of Vienna . His working group was the first to grow a brain organoid in a Petri dish in 2013 .
Image : Sandra Schartel | IMBA
ganoids in vitro will not raise any ethical or legal issues requiring regulation . The conditions in which human cells can be used to produce brain organoids are also sufficiently regulated . This also applies to the transplantation of brain organoids .
If current limits to the potential development of brain organoids are overcome in future , due to rapid progress in this research field , it would need to be examined whether established methods of internal scientific self-regulation and control by ethics commissions would need to be expanded , if necessary by an expert commission at state level along the lines of the German Central Ethics Commission for Stem Cell Research . It continues to be important to assess ethical , legal or socially relevant developments in this field of research at an early stage , in order to be able to react to them quickly .
* Leopoldina member Hans Schöler and Jürgen Knoblich are spokespersons for the Leopoldina working group “ Brain Organoids ”.
Statement „ Hirnorganoide “ ( English version in progress )
Heart muscle , skin , kidney cells – all kinds of tissue can be grown from stem cells . What is special about brain organoids ? Bettina Schöne-Seifert : Seeing these entities in the Petri dish does raise questions . After all , nerve cells in “ real ” brains make up the biological substrate of our mind . It is important to ask whether brain organoids can develop any kind of consciousness and feel pain . What is the answer ? Schöne-Seifert : Internationally , experts agree that brain organoids , as they are made now and in the foreseeable future , are miles away from developing even rudimentary consciousness of any kind . Their tissue structures are not large , complex and differentiated enough for that . Thus , as things stand at the moment , brain organoids are not entitled to any protection (“ moral status ”). Having said that , it would be unethical in our view to hinder or prohibit this research because of concerns about possible later developments and the need to draw boundaries . What would cause this to be reassessed ? Schöne-Seifert : It is important to keep an eye on the progress of this field of research . Should brain organoids be able to become significantly more complex in future , that would definitely be a reason . The transplantation of brain organoids into other animal brains , which is still in its infancy , may one day require new ethical considerations and decisions to be made .
■ THE INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED BY ANNE BRÜNING