FRIAS Colloquium - Karola Kreitmair

On the Moral Status of “Human Brain Surrogates”

In the pursuit of better models of neurological disease and development, researchers are creating novel ‘human brain surrogates’, such as human brain organoids (lab-grown 3D mini-organs that resemble the brain), ex vivo live brain tissue (resected tissue from living patients), and human/non-human chimeras (non-human brains transplanted with human brain cells). This raises questions about the moral status that inheres in such entities. In this talk, I present the beginnings of an account of the relevant grounds of moral status for such entities, along with alternate established theories. I then draw out the implications of these competing accounts for the ethical use of such ‘human brain surrogates’.