The MTS program examines key developments in medicine and technology and explores their significance and consequences. Critical breakthroughs such as human germline engineering - the ability to alter the genes we pass to our children - will challenge our basic ideas about what it means to be human and need to be thoroughly explored if we are to handle them wisely..

Our mission to catalyze broad public discussion and to help the public, the medical community and policy makers anticipate and comprehend the extraordinary changes shaping our world, demands an innovative approach.  We see the power of the internet as an important tool in our efforts and are building websites that feature debate among experts representing a wide spectrum of viewpoints. We are also convening a series of roundtables of distinguished individuals to discuss the science, ethics and policy implications of specific emerging technologies. MTS's focus is on beginning and end-of-life issues, because they are so crucial to our lives and to the future of society. The manipulation of human reproduction -- germline engineering, cloning, and other advanced IVF technologies -- deals with nothing less than humanity's emerging ability to direct its own evolution, while our increasing capacity to treat age-related diseases and possibly even retard aging itself touches at the basic trajectory of human life and therefore all our aspirations and concerns.

Background

The MTS program at the School of Medicine was created by the Program on Science, Technology and Society at CSEOL (The Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life) to examine life science issues.  In 1998 the STS program convened the first large public symposium on Human Germline Engineering. This event brought together leading scientists and ethicists, including Nobel laureate James D. Watson, French Anderson, Andrea Bonnicksen, Mario Capecchi, Leroy Hood, Daniel Koshland, Michael Rose, and Lee Silver to assess the prospects and challenges of human germline engineering in the coming two decades.  This, the first major symposium to seriously address this topic, took place in March of 1998 before an audience of 1000 people and catalyzed broad public discussion by garnering front-page coverage in The New York Times and Washington Post and inspiring numerous other articles.