Team:UCL/Practice

From 2013.igem.org

NEURO-GENETHICS

Neuroethical Issues In Synthetic Biology

Over the last decade there has been mounting public interest in genetic engineering and the potential and pitfalls of associated emerging technologies. These technologies promise much, potentially even treatments for brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, and yet genetic modification of the brain is something many would feel uneasy about, despite the horrors it tries to mitigate. 'Neuro-genetic engineering' may slip over into other areas, including psychological therapy and cognitive enhancements, changing the way society views its minds forever. To see who we have contacted in the scientific community about our idea, and the feedback, see attributions.

Click the abstracts below to read more.

Eternal Sunshine

An emotional piece of interactive art, this is a repository for users’ most precious memories, which highlights the cost of losing them.

Creative Writing Competition

Fiction and science can synergise into something altogether much more provocative, and so we ran a creative writing competition to let writers loose on the rich themes of our Human Practices.

Neuroethics Report

The brain is the the part of us that makes oneself one’s self. As such there are misgivings towards infringing on its natural sovereignty. We investigate the murky ethics surrounding various applications, from medicine to the enhancements.

Documentary

In order to effectively collate our thoughts, those of the public and those of proefessionals on the issues raised in our ethics report, we conducted a series of interviews and exhibited our ideas on camera.

Speed Debate

We wanted to get to grips with the public upfront with our ideas on what the fusion between neuroscience and synthetic biology could become, starting with basic attitudes to both, and with special focus on Alzheimer’s disease.

Feasibility Report

We examine the economic, social and medical feasibility of our proposed treatment, looking at resource allocation, the cost of research for Alzheimer's and the cost-benefit of spending on the ageing population.

Online survey

We conducted an online survey in order to gauge public opinion on various issues that comprise not only our project, but what our project could lead to.

TED debate

In order to test the waters for our Speed Debate, we opened discussion on the ‘neuro-genethics’ surrounding our project on TED Conversations.