Ethics Spans ISSCR’s Global Initiatives
It has been a great pleasure to talk this month with Ethics Committee Chair Kazuto Kato and Vice Chair Rosario Isasi – their work along with the committee members is critical to connect scientific advances in the stem cell field with implications for the public and society. Scientific advances require an ethical framework, and without that framework science cannot be done. Their passionate work is critical to properly guide science as well as for their capacity to consider what new ethical frameworks are necessary as research advances.
Q: What are the most important initiatives and tasks the committee has been working on?
KK: To understand our current efforts, I will connect them to the work we have done in the past few years. One issue the committee has focused on is embryo models given the research in the area has been dynamic and rapidly evolving. The committee also has been involved with revisions of the ISSCR Guidelines, and one aspect we haven’t resolved is the issue of handling human embryo research. What I mean is embryos created by an egg and sperm, which is different from embryo models. The 2021 ISSCR Guidelines update referenced the importance of public engagement, but we did not articulate what we mean by public engagement. This has been an important topic of conversation, and the Ethics Committee held a focus session at the ISSCR 2022 Annual Meeting that centered on this theme.
Vice chair Rosie Isasi has been a part of the ISSCR Embryo Models Working Group, which is producing a white paper to be published this Spring. That is why at the 2023 annual meeting we held a focus session on embryo models. The committee also is engaging in the area of neural organoids, another area of rapidly evolving research. At the ISSCR 2025 Annual Meeting in Hong Kong, we are hosting the session, Emerging Ethical Issues with Neural Organoids, to explore the complexities of transplanting neural organoids into animal models.
RI: The Ethics Committee also is working on a white paper on scientific justification, led by Erica Jonlin and Insoo Hyun, which has been accepted for publication in Stem Cell Reports. The article addresses what constitutes “adequate and appropriate scientific justification” for human pluripotent stem cell, embryo, and related research.
In addition, we want to enhance and better integrate the ethics content and the work of the committee on the ISSCR’s websites. Lastly, we are looking at determining how to ensure there is ethical reflection in all of the work we do at the ISSCR. We are seeking to be more proactive so that ethics goes alongside the research.
Q: Can you share more about the talent and background of members on the committee and how the composition of members contributes to the committee’s work and effectiveness?
KK: We have two new members of the committee, Megan Munsie and Kathy Niakan, who also serve on the ISSCR Board of Directors. This structural change directly connect the Board of Directors and their discussion with our committees, leading to more effective communication and downstream action. For instance, the neural chimera topic was discussed by the Board, which informed our committee, and helped focus the topic of our session at the ISSCR Annual Meeting this year.
RI: We care to have representation from early career individuals, and we have been working on having a member, ad hoc perhaps and in a pre-independent position, who can be exposed and trained so that they gain exposure to socio-ethical and policy issues. This will encourage more diversity in our thinking and will help us mentor and sustain our committee’s work over the years. We have had a lot of discussion that industry representation needs to be better integrated as well.
For us, the composition of the committee is very important because geographic representation helps us see different cultural and social contexts, which are important. The fetal tissue research discussion, for instance, is a more U.S.-centric topic, but we learned about other dimensions from perspectives in Japan.
KK: Sometimes we face a challenge of recruiting committee members who have an ethics background because the Society is primarily focused on scientific research. Also, ethics researchers tend to have less funding, and traveling to meetings is often more difficult.
RI: We have to beg and borrow to be able to attend meetings, and for Hong Kong it is challenging. For a group that does not receive direct funding it is very difficult.
KK: This challenge around meeting travel has been an issue for a long time. It would be nice if we come up with a solution.
Q: What makes you volunteer so much of your time and what do you see in this service you provide?
KK: Once you start to work on some ethical issues in stem cell research (i.e., the topic of iPS in my country) you can connect across countries and learn the perspectives from other colleagues. This strengthens the work I am doing for my own country and increases the enjoyment and the profile of the work. That is the drive for me.
RI: Good science depends on good ethics. Scientific advances require an ethical pillar. Without an ethical framework, science cannot be done. Our passion is in guiding science and having science inform us on the required ethical framework.
KK: We need a new generation of ethicists that can work closer to science and medicine in order to bring benefits to scientists as well as ethicists and the public at large! ISSCR’s Ethics Committee has been one of the flagship examples of working together.
As I start to come to the end of these conversations with our committee leaders, I remain inspired by their committee to the ISSCR and the talent they bring to global issues that emerge as the field continues to advance so rapidly. This conversation around ethics is critical and a guidepost to the innovative science that is the hallmark of the stem cell and regenerative medicine field.
Ethics Committee Members: Chair, Kazuto Kato, Vice Chair Rosario Isasi, Nienke de Graeff, Misao Fujita, Insoo Hyun, Erica C. Jonlin, Megan Munsie, Kaori Muto, Kathy Niakan, Krishanu Saha, Jeremy Sugarman, and Zhaochen Wang. Staff liaisons Denise DeVilla and Tyler Lamb.
Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Kym Kilbourne for her continuous contributions and partnership in co-creating these monthly messages.