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SUMMARY:Pluripotent Stem Cells: Medical Dream or Ethical Nightmare? - Prof
 . Paul Fairchild\, Oxford University
DTSTART:20120221T130000Z
DTEND:20120221T140000Z
UID:TALK35799@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:25203
DESCRIPTION:Modern medicine has become the victim of its own success.  Whi
 le mortality due to infectious microorganisms has declined significantly a
 mong developed countries over the past 80 years\, the unprecedented increa
 se in life expectancy has been accompanied by an equally dramatic rise in 
 the incidence of chronic and degenerative diseases.  The scale of the medi
 cal challenges that an ageing population poses for healthcare in the 21st 
 century will doubtless require radical solutions\, of which the harnessing
  of pluripotency through the derivation of human embryonic stem (ES) cells
  represents a promising strategy: indeed\, preliminary successes in prospe
 ctive clinical trials of cell replacement therapy suggest that we may soon
  begin to reap the benefits of more than a decade of research into this el
 usive population of cells.  Nevertheless\, the ethical dilemma created by 
 the wilful destruction of human embryos in order to access pluripotency\, 
 continues to cloud the field.  This seminar will attempt to draw some gene
 ral principles from the speaker’s personal journey of reconciling a deep
  Christian faith with the moral dilemmas raised by reproductive and stem c
 ell and technologies.  In particular\, it will explore whether the destruc
 tion of human embryos can ever be justified by the magnitude of the likely
  benefits\, whether the sanctioning of ES cell derivation might inadverten
 tly create further ethical challenges\, such as human therapeutic cloning\
 , and whether the recent advent of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells mi
 ght offer an ethically-neutral way forward.
LOCATION:Garden Room\, Library Building\, St. Edmund’s College
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