LABTEC - London & Brighton Translational Ethics Centre
Wellcome Trust Biomedical Ethics Strategic Award: £835,000 (04/2009 - 03/2014)
The ethics of translational research: from ‘unnatural entities’ to experimental treatments
Principal Investigator: Prof Clare Williams (Director of LABTEC, CBAS, Brunel)
Co-applicants: Prof Peter Braude (KCL), Prof Alan Cribb (KCL), Prof Bobbie Farsides (Deputy Director LABTEC Brighton & Sussex), Prof Mike Michael (Goldsmiths), Dr Stephen Minger (GE Healthcare), Prof Brian Salter (KCL), Prof Rosamund Scott (KCL), Prof Clive Seale (CBAS, Brunel), Prof Chris Shaw (KCL) & Prof Steven Wainwright (Deputy Director LABTEC, CBAS, Brunel).
Collaborators: Mark Henderson (Director of Communications, The Wellcome Trust) Dr Dusko Ilic (KCL), Prof Francis Flinter (Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust), Prof Barbara Prainsack (CBAS, Brunel), Prof Jack Price (KCL), Dr Lesley Henderson (Department of Sociology & Communications, Brunel).
Current Researchers: John Gardner (PhD student, CBAS, Brunel); Dr Gabrielle Samuel (PhD student, CBAS, Brunel); Anna Grinbergs (PhD student, Brighton and Sussex); Jane Peek (PhD student, Brighton and Sussex).
Completed Postdoctoral Projects: Dr Caragh Brosnan (now Lecturer, University of Newcastle, Australia); Dr James Porter (now Research Fellow, Leeds University); Dr Alison Harvey (now Visiting Fellow, CBAS, Brunel).
Summary
This research focuses on key developments in human embryonic stem cell research and neuroscience as critical instances of the translational interface between research and treatment, between science and medicine, including the debate over inter-species embryos; boundaries/overlaps between experimental research/treatment; and non human primate research for neurological treatments. The central ethical question is the acceptability of changing what it means to be human and/or a person, but others include the impact on human/animal rights; the interests of future generations; the interpretation of safety and risk; the relationship between personal beliefs and professional demands/responsibilities; the place of values in patient choice; the shifts in moral landscapes as research progresses.
The London & Brighton Translational Ethics Centre (LABTEC) research programme expands an established, interdisciplinary team who have an outstanding track record of working and publishing together on ethical issues relating to new medical technologies. It builds capacity and adds value in three interlinking domains, by providing research training/academic career development; developing innovative methodological approaches combining normative and empirical ethics; and undertaking substantive work on the ethics of translational research.
Annual Progress Reviews
LABTEC Progress Review 2010 - 2011 please click here
LABTEC Progress Review 2011 - 2012 please click here
Completed Projects
Alison Harvey: From animal to human? Bioethics and the regulation of human/animal chimeras; 2009 - 2011
Caragh Brosnan: Scientists' and clinicians' experiences of working in experimental neuroscience; 2009 - 2011
James Porter: On being a (modern) scientist: risks in public engagement in the interspecies embryo debate; 2009 - 2012
Annual Conferences
2010 LABTEC 1st Annual Conference and Launch (full details in Progress Review 2010-11)
2012 LABTEC 2nd Annual Conference: Responsibilities and challenges for researchers when using patient narratives and data (full details in Progress Review 2011-12)
Conference Posters
Caragh Brosnan: Neuroscientists' everyday experiences of 'ethics'
John Gardner: A sociology of medical innovation: deep brain stimulation and the treatment of children with dystonias
Alison Harvey: From animal to human? Bioethics and the regulation of human/animal chimeras
James Porter: Better the devil you know? Collaborative tensions in making neuroscience work
Gabby Samuel: Translation of discourse about experimental neurotechnologies - from scientist to public
Jane Peek: Patients' views on medical research for Parkinson's disease
Contact
Professor Clare Williams
Director Wellcome Trust London & Brighton Translational Ethics Centre – LABTEC
Deputy Director Centre for Biomedicine & Society – CBAS
Professor of Medical Sociology
Department of Sociology & Communications
School of Social Sciences
Brunel University, London
Tel: 07850 093522
Email: clare.williams@brunel.ac.uk
