Ethical aspects of the science and clinical application of Tissue Enginering

• Ethics and biopolitics of therapeutic cloning
• Ethics and biopolitics of xenogenetics, xenotherapeutics and xenotransplantation
• The ethics of temporary tissue engineered bioassist devices (e.g. hybrid bioartificial liver support systems for patients awaiting donated organs for transplantation)
• Separating the promise of TE from the reality of TE
• Determining outcome measures for assessing TE and calculating the “number-needed-to-treat” (For example, assessing the need for, and benefits of tissue engineering of cartilage)
• Risks of engineered tissues (e.g. xenogenic tissues, limited durability of engineered tissues)
• Source of tissues for TE (does it make a moral difference?)
• Ethical issues involved in collection, donation and use of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells and amniotic fluid.
• Clinical trials of tissue regeneration techniques
• The impact and acknowledgment of scientific uncertainty in tissue engineering
• Epistemology and philosophy of TE science (e.g. contested evidence for “plasticity”)
• Political response to the rise of regenerative medicine

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