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This week at the Progress Educational Trust (20 October 2021)

The Progress Educational Trust (PET) is delighted to announce that registration is open for its next three free-to-attend online events, all of which will be chaired by PET Director Sarah Norcross.

Speakers at the Progress Educational Trust's FREE-to-attend public events 'Newborn Screening: What Should Be Screened for and How?', 'Whole Genome Sequencing at Birth: What Should Be Looked For? What Should Be Fed Back?' and 'Whole Genome Sequencing at Birth: Consenting Adults,Consenting Adults, Sequencing Babies' 'Newborn Screening: What Should Be Screened for and How?' will take place on Wednesday 3 November 2021 from 5.30pm-7.30pm (GMT).

This event, about screening newborn babies for disease, is produced with the support of Novartis.

Speakers include Professor Anne Mackie – Director of Programmes for the UK National Screening Committee – as well as Professor Laurent Servais, Dr Will Evans and Nick Meade.

Find out more and register here. If tweeting about this event, please use the hashtag #NewbornScreening

'Whole Genome Sequencing at Birth: What Should Be Looked For? What Should Be Fed Back?' will take place on Wednesday 17 November 2021 from 5.30pm-7.30pm (GMT).

This event about whole genome sequencing at birth, asking which genes and variants in the genomes of newborn babies should be studied and reported on, is produced in partnership with Genomics England and its Newborn Genomes Programme.

Speakers include Dr Richard Scott, Dr Emma Baple and Professor Frances Flinter. Find out more and register here. If tweeting about this event, please use the hashtag #GenomicsConversation

'Whole Genome Sequencing at Birth: Consenting Adults, Sequencing Babies' will take place on Wednesday 15 December 2021 from 5.30pm-7.30pm (GMT).

This event about whole genome sequencing at birth, asking ethical and practical questions about consent, is produced in partnership with Genomics England and its Newborn Genomes Programme.

Speakers include Amanda Pichini and Professor Anneke Lucassen. Find out more and register here. If tweeting about this event, please use the hashtag #GenomicsConversation

Meanwhile, registration is also open for PET's 2021 Annual Conference, which will be held online from 9.15am-5.45pm (GMT) on Wednesday 1 December 2021. This year's conference is entitled 'Reproducing Regulation: Who Regulates Fertility and How?'.

The Institute of Medical Ethics has provided funding for 20 medical students to attend the conference free of charge. Medical students wishing to apply for one of these places should email sstarr@progress.org.uk

Speakers at the Progress Educational Trust conference 'Reproducing Regulation: Who Regulates Fertility and How?', taking place online on Wednesday 1 December 2021The conference will ask whether laws need to be changed, and if so how, in light of recent scientific innovations and changing views of what constitutes a family. Conference sessions include:

  1. The Role of the Regulator: UK Perspectives
  2. Fertility Across Jurisdictions: International Perspectives
  3. All Families Great and Small: Changing Family Forms
  4. New Frontiers: Futureproofing Fertility and Embryo Law

Confirmed conference speakers and chairs include:

  • Julia Chain (Chair of the HFEA)
  • Professor Carlos Calhaz-Jorge (Chair of ESHRE)
  • Dr Louise Strong (Director of Consumer Protection at the UK Government's Competition and Markets Authority)
  • Dr Jamie Metzl (Technology and Healthcare Futurist, and member of the WHO's Advisory Committee on Genome Editing)
  • Professor Emily Jackson (Professor of Law at the LSE)
  • Dr Raj Mathur (Chair of the British Fertility Society)
  • Juliet Tizzard (Director of Policy and Partnerships at the Health Research Authority)
  • Professor Insoo Hyun (Chair of the Ethics Committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research)
  • Professor Anja Bisgaard Pinborg (Chief Consultant at Rigshospitalet's Juliane Marie Centre)
  • Professor Sarah Franklin (Director of the University of Cambridge's Reproductive Sociology Research Group)
  • Professor Allan Pacey (Professor of Andrology at the University of Sheffield)
  • Professor Heidi Mertes (Professor of Ethics at Ghent University)
  • Natalie Sutherland (Partner at Burgess Mee Family Law)
  • Dr Edgar Mocanu (Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Rotunda Hospital Dublin)
  • Katherine O'Brien (Associate Director of Communications and Campaigns at BPAS)
  • Ana Pereira Daoud (Researcher at Maastricht University, investigating ethical and policy implications of stem-cell-based embryo models)
  • Andrew Powell (Specialist Family Law Barrister at 4 Paper Buildings)
  • Fiona Fox (Chief Executive of the Science Media Centre)
  • Dr Nathalie Vermeulen (Senior Research Specialist at ESHRE)
  • Sarah Norcross (Director of PET)

This conference is supported by the Anne McLaren Memorial Trust Fund, the Edwards and Steptoe Research Trust Fund, ESHRE, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Hart Publishing, Merck, the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, Theramex, TMRW Life Sciences, Vitrolife and the Institute of Medical Ethics.

If tweeting about the conference, please use the hashtag #PETconf21

Further details of the conference can be found here.