Guide

Establishing meaningful and informed dialogue with our stakeholders is one of the overarching goals of our human practices. We therefore a video interview series with various scientific and social stakeholders to identify the state of the current research and current ethical shoertcomings. In particular, we found a clear ethical guideline as a key unmet need for shaping future application of our system to human gene editing. Based on key principles put forward by the Committee on Human Gene Editing: Scientific, Medical, and Ethical Considerations in their 2017 report on science, ethics and governance, we developed a guideline for iGEM teams to develop integrative human practices to their project design. We then evaluated our team’s efforts based on those criteria and identified strengths and areas for improvement. In particular, transparency through clear documentation and public engagement, identification of vulnerable groups and collaborations were some of our strengths while due care through the development of scenarios and economic considerations in the distribution of our technology are some areas that were touched upon but could be improved by following the recommendations made in our guide.