The derivation and use of human embryonic stem cells has been highly controversial in the United States. An ongoing lawsuit calls for the halt of NIH funding for human embryonic stem cell research, but adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell–like state known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) do not raise the same kinds of ethical concerns because they do not involve embryos.
Dr. Bernard Lo, professor of medicine and director of the Program in Medical Ethics at the University of California at San Francisco, will discuss stem cell ethics during the 15th annual Waggoner Lecture, at 4 p.m. Nov. 3, in Ford Auditorium, University Hospital.
His talk entitled, “Stem cells: Intractable ethical dilemmas or emerging agreement,” discusses iPSCs and their promise of “disease-in-a-dish” models to identify new drug targets and to test new therapies.
“iPSCs still raise ethical concerns because some types of downstream research may be objectionable to the original cell donor,” says Lo, who is author of “Resolving Ethical Dilemmas: A Guide for Clinicians.” “This talk will recommend how to address new ethical issues regarding donor cells to create iPSC lines and clinical trials of innovative stem cell treatments.”
The Waggoner lectureship is named for the late Dr. Raymond Waggoner, who died in June 2000 at age 98. He was chair of the Department of Psychiatry for 33 years, from 1937-70. A noted U-M psychiatrist, medical administrator and government advisor who was one of the first to see mental illness as both an emotional and physical problem, Waggoner maintained a strong interest in medical ethics and values throughout his career. The Department of Psychiatry established the lectureship in his honor in 1995. The talk will be preceded by a brief recognition of Waggoner’s life and career.
Lo is national program director for the Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, served on the IOM Council and as chair of the Board on Health Sciences Policy, and chaired a recent IOM committee on conflicts of interest in medicine. He is co-chair of the Standards Working Group of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which recommends regulations for stem cell research funded by the state of California. He also serves on the NIH committee that reviews eligibility of embryonic stem cell lines for NIH funding. Lo is a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Ethics Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee to the Director. At UCSF, he directs the Regulatory Knowledge Support core of the NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Science Institute and is co-director of the Policy and Ethics Core of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies.
