The empirical embryo
Building on his presentation at the 2024 PET Annual Conference, Julian Hitchcock discusses how best to define the human embryo for the purposes of law and regulation...
Of Counsel, Biolawgy
Julian Hitchcock is Of Counsel at the boutique life sciences law and policy consultancy, Biolawgy. He has specialised in the law and regulation of cells, tissues and genes for more than 20 years, with a particular focus on emerging science, technology and governance. He was a member of the Working Group that produced the Code of Practice for the Generation and Use of Human Stem-Cell-Based Embryo Models, published jointly by PET and Cambridge Reproduction.
Building on his presentation at the 2024 PET Annual Conference, Julian Hitchcock discusses how best to define the human embryo for the purposes of law and regulation...
Specialist in the law and regulation of cells, tissues and genes, Julian Hitchcock writes in response to Professor Søren Holm's comment discussing the oversight system proposed in the SCBEM Code of Practice...
The current legal framework on which compensation caps for gamete donors is based has created a situation where foreign donors are compensated less than those in the UK, explains Julian Hitchcock...
How responsive is the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act to the pace of social and technological change? In this comment, Julian Hitchcock contemplates revision of the Act, and how might we optimise its responsiveness to clinical need while upholding standards...
In a recent press statement on the use of preimplantation genetic testing of human embryos, the HFEA stated that 'Embryo selection is only legal in the UK to avoid serious inherited illnesses, usually by means of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis authorised by the HFEA, known as PGT-M or PGT-SR'…
Over two weeks in March, four teams reported the self-assembly from stem cells of structures resembling human embryos...
The Dance of Life: Symmetry, Cells and How We Become Human is the autobiography of the developmental biologist Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, written with the unobtrusive but unerring support of a master science writer, Dr Roger Highfield...
'Three babies, three scientists, three years in jail, and a three million yuan fine. This is the story of Dr He Jiankui and the world's first genome edited babies', wrote the philosopher Françoise Baylis in last week's Boston Globe....
GMO Sapiens is just the annoying grit in the machine that the genome editing debate needs, but readers deserve clearer lines between science, speculation and opinion...
The advances of Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, the opportunities to undertake valuable medical research and our changed sense of values all demand that we reappraise the 14-day limit...
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