Wednesday, 3 May 2017, 17:30, Staff Lounge
The artificial womb – do we really know where we are going?
Thomas Chartier, PhD student, Arendt Group & Sara Fahs, PhD student, Köhn Group
In a fast moving technological world, where scientific disciplines and progress never stop growing, the possibilities of how humans can control and influence nature increase substantially. Yesterday, we studied reproduction by breaking it down into developmental steps. Today, we study reproduction by engineering it. Long-term physiological maintenance of the foetus amputated from the maternal placental axis has been achieved. This, for instance, has been presented as a major medical breakthrough. However, it is also another step towards fully growing a human in an artificial environment. What could this lead to, with the ever-changing interests of science and politics around the world?
Suggested reading
An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb