Sandy Starr, deputy director of PET, went to Parliament to attend an event entitled 'Embryo Models: What Parliamentarians Need to Know'.
The event was organised by Professor Emily Jackson (who chaired a session at the most recent PET Annual Conference), and was sponsored by Josh Babarinde (MP for Eastbourne). It concerned policy issues surrounding stem-cell-based embryo models (SCBEMs).
Aspects discussed included the SCBEM Code of Practice published jointly by Cambridge reproduction and PET (on which Sandy was project consultant), and the public dialogue on SCBEMs that informed the Code (and in which Sandy was also involved).
Speakers at the event included Dr Peter Rugg-Gunn (pictured above with Sandy), who's group leader and head of public engagement at the Babraham Institute. Peter was a member of the Working Group that produced the Code, and he's also a member of the Working Group that's currently updating guidance on SCBEMs for the International Society for Stem Cell Research.
In related news, a recent editorial about SCBEMs in the journal Nature Methods dedicates a paragraph to the SCBEM Code of Practice.