Events
“Information Gathering Meeting” for Dec 2015 NAS/NAM Human Gene Editing Summit
In response to the recent widespread revolution in genome editing technology and the associated bioethical considerations, an Information Gathering Meeting for the Planning Committee Organizing the International Summit on Human Gene Editing was convened in Washington, DC, on Monday, October 5, 2015.
IGI founder Jennifer Doudna presented a talk on The Genome Engineering Revolution during Session II: Gene Editing Technologies.
The event was part of the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Human Gene-Editing Initiative, and it was hosted an by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society (the UK’s national academy of science). Here are the links to the Agenda and Registration for this event. Watch the Video Presentations here: https://vimeo.com/album/3615412.
The Planning Committee comprises a renowned group of international researchers from a variety of disciplines, and is being chaired by Nobel laureate David Baltimore, president emeritus and Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. Other members include Françoise Baylis (Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy, Dalhousie University), Paul Berg (Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor Emeritus and Director Emeritus, Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine), George Q. Daley (Samuel E. Lux IV Professor of Hematology and Oncology, and Director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), Jennifer A. Doudna (HHMI, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Professor of Molecular & Cell Biology and Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley), Eric S. Lander (President and Director, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT), Robin Lovell-Badge (Head of the Division of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics, Francis Crick Institute), Pilar Ossorio (Professor of Law and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin; and Ethics Scholar, Morgridge Institute for Research), Duanqing Pei (Professor and Director General, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Adrian Thrasher (Professor of Paediatric Immunology, University College London), Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker (Professor Emeritus and Director Emeritus, Gene Center, Ludwig-Maximilians University), Qi Zhou (Professor and Deputy Director, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences).
Invited experts discussed various aspects of human gene-editing technologies – their efficiency, utility, the measurement of unintended events, the historical context of embryo and gene manipulation, and proposed approaches to treat and prevent genetic diseases – as well as China’s recent contributions to gene editing research. Although the ethics and governance aspects of human gene editing will not be the focus of the meeting in October, they will be significant topics at the follow-on International Summit on Human Gene Editing in December, part of a major initiative to inform decision making related to new and emerging human gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9. These technologies could lead to promising new ways to treat devastating genetic diseases and disorders, but they also raise specific concerns, particularly because of their potential to be used to make genetic changes that could be passed on to future generations, thereby modifying the heritable human germline.
The International Summit on Human Gene Editing will be held in Washington, DC, on December 1-3, 2015. For a Draft Agenda and a more detailed description of the issues to be addressed, visit http://nationalacademies.org/gene-editing/Gene-Edit-Summit/.
For more information on the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Human Gene-Editing Initiative, visit http://nationalacademies.org/gene-editing/.
Date
October 5, 2015
Time
0900 to 1730 EDT
Location
Lecture Room
National Academy of Sciences Building
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20418
Press Release
Human Gene Editing Information-Gathering Meeting: Oct. 5
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | September 25, 2015
We strive to make our events accessible and inclusive. The Innovative Genomics Institute Building is ADA compliant, and has a lactation room that visitors can use. For disability accommodation information and/or access to the lactation room, please contact the event organizer or email igi-info@berkeley.edu.