November 2000

Policy Sessions
2:05 - 3:15 pm
Squires Student Center

How should we address the issues and dilemmas presented by current and emerging technologies of organ transplantation and body part replacement? In the following sessions, explore the challenges we will face, and the choices that society might — or might not — choose to make.

Animal-to-Human Transplantation
Squires 150
Examines issues raised by the possibility of growing animal organs for use in humans, including the human benefit, the human risk, and the ethics of xenotransplantation.

David Ayares
PPL-Therapeutics, Inc., Blacksburg, VA

Embryonic Stem Cells and Organ Growth
Squires 152
Explores the ethical and technological issues related to the use of embryonic stem cells to increase the supply of organs available for transplantation purposes.

William Huckle
VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine

Organ and Body Part Manufacture and Repair
Squires 154
Examines issues raised by the ability to grow and repair organs and other body parts via mechanical or artificial processes — an opportunity which blurs the distinction between human and non-human, and the boundaries between scientific disciplines and medical practice.

Michael Furey
Center for Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Tech

Organ Donation and the Popular Imagination
Squires 341
Employs the lens of popular culture (including books, films, and comic strips) to examine the history and future of organ transplantation and body part manipulation, with a focus on the relationship between science/technology and society.

Benjamin Cohen, Wyatt Galusky & Heather Harris
Program in Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech
Sue Hagedorn
Department of English, Virginia Tech