A blog from the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB)

Month: December 2016

Ethics and law of stem cell treatment of diabetes

Pär SegerdahlMany people support in various ways medical research, which they perceive as urgent in view of the needs of various patient groups. But patients typically won’t benefit from research unless the results are translated into development of medical products.

Type 1 diabetes is an incurable disease that requires daily life-sustaining treatment and strict dietary rules. Disease onset usually occurs at an early age.

In Sweden, about 50 000 people have this form of diabetes and of these around 8 000 are children. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells. Without insulin the body cells cannot use glucose for energy, and the sugar level in the blood rises. Energy is recovered instead from fat and protein, which causes waste products that can cause diabetic coma and attacks on vital organs.

Today, diabetes is treated with daily insulin injections, or by using an insulin pump. This requires continuous measurement of blood sugar levels, as incorrect doses of insulin entails risks and can be life-threatening. It is not easy to live with diabetes.

An alternative treatment, which is still at the research stage, is to generate new insulin-producing cells using human embryonic stem cells. The insulin-producing cells detect blood sugar levels and regulate the secretion of insulin. In order not to be attacked by the immune system, the transplanted cells are encapsulated in a protective material. It may become easier to live with diabetes.

But research alone doesn’t treat diabetes. Encapsulated insulin-producing cells need to be produced and made available also to patients; not only to research participants. But this is a big step and a host of ethical and legal issues, including embryo donation, patentability and consent, need to be examined and discussed.

The Swedish Research Council recently granted funding for a project to examine these issues. The project is led by Mats G. Hansson at CRB and is a collaboration with Olle Korsgren, professor of transplantation immunology, as well as with lawyers Anna-Sara Lind and Bengt Domeij, and philosophers and ethicists Jessica Nihlén Fahlquist and Pär Segerdahl.

The step from stem cell research to available treatments requires reflection. I look forward to start thinking about the ethical and philosophical questions.

Pär Segerdahl

This post in Swedish

Approaching future issues - the Ethics Blog

Research data, health cyberspace and direct-to-consumer genetic testing

josepine-fernow2We live in a global society, which means there are several actors that regulate both research and services directed at consumers. It is time again for our newsletter on current issues in biobank ethics and law. This time, Biobank Perspectives  lets you read about the legal aspects of direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Santa Slokenberga writes about her doctoral dissertation in law from Uppsala University and how the Council of Europe and the EU interact with each other and the legal systems in the member states. She believes direct-to-consumer genetic testing can be seen as a “test” of the European legal orders, showing us that there is need for formal cooperation and convergence as seemingly small matters can lead to large consequences.

We also follow up from a previous report on the General Data Protection Regulation in a Swedish perspective with more information about the Swedish Research Data Inquiry. We are also happy to announce that a group of researchers from the University of Oxford, University of Iceland, University of Oslo and the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics at Uppsala University received a Nordforsk grant to find solutions for governance of the “health cyberspace” that is emerging from assembling and using existing data for new purposes. To read more, download a pdf of the latest issue (4:2016), or visit the Biobank Perspectives site for more ethical and legal perspectives on biobank and registry research.

Josepine Fernow

This post in Swedish

Approaching future issues - the Ethics Blog

Two researchers in neuroethics

Our neuroethics group at CRB currently seek two postdoctoral researchers to work in the Human Brain Project (European Commission Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship Project). The positions have different focus.

One research task focuses on the role of contexts and cultural imprinting in understanding the brain’s functional architectures. Read more and apply.

The second research task focuses on philosophical and ethical challenges of modelling cognitive processes in silica. Read more and apply.

Employments are temporary, renewable halftime positions, starting February 1, 2017 (or as otherwise agreed). If you have questions, please contact Kathinka Evers.

Application deadline is January 12, 2017.

Pär Segerdahl

We transgress disciplinary borders - the Ethics Blog