Virtual Faculty Roundtable

What is human nature? Moral Challenges for Genetic Engineering Research Today

JUne 17, 2021

7 PM (est)

Join us for our next virtual Faculty Roundtable to discuss human nature and genetic engineering with George Church and James Sherley.

about this event

Scientists in the fields of genetics and stem cell research are on the verge of taking control of human biological destiny: for some, exercising the power of “gods,” capable of creating artificial DNA, developing artificial organs for heart replacement surgery, cloning animals and humans, to name just a few innovations. In short, what we have come to think of as natural biological processes are rapidly becoming evolutionary developments that humans believe they can control.

Some, like paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, have argued that science and religion/philosophy are separate domains —“magisteria,” as Gould called them. As geneticists move closer to being able to manipulate the very material of human identity, the bright line between the domains is starting to blur. The implications of these technologies are pushing scientists to ask ethical, moral, and religious questions.

For his part, geneticist George Church decided to hire an ethicist as a full-time member of his lab team, and a moral guide for their work to help them examine the implications of their research. Adult Stem Cell Biologist, James Sherley, has had a long-running conversation with George about these questions and they will bring us up to speed on the current state of their discussion.

This Virtual Roundtable is coordinated by the Cambridge Roundtable and the Veritas Forum. We will join with Roundtables from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell, UChicago, Northwestern, and Notre Dame for the presentations then split into Yale faculty breakout rooms for discussion.

about our Speakers

george church

George is Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is Director of the U.S. Department of Energy Technology Center and Director of the National Institutes of Health Center of Excellence in Genomic Science. Read More

james sherley

Dr. Sherley is an Adult Stem Cell Biologist and Founder and Director of Asymmetrex, LLC. He has spent twenty years in regenerative biology and stem cell medicine fields. He has focused on elucidating mechanisms responsible for the specialized renewal properties of adult stem cells and using this knowledge to address major research problems limiting the development of adult stem cells for biomedicine. Read More

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