Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

The ethics of experimenting with human brain tissue

Difficult questions will be raised as models of the human brain get closer to replicating its functions, explain Nita A. Farahany, Henry T. Greely and 15 colleagues.
  1. Nita A. Farahany

    1. Nita A. Farahany is professor of law and philosophy at Duke University, director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Henry T. Greely

    1. Henry T. Greely is professor of law, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences, and director of the Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society at Stanford University, California, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Steven Hyman

    1. Steven Hyman is director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University; and Harvard University distinguished service professor in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  4. Christof Koch

    1. Christof Koch is the chief scientist and president at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, Washington, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  5. Christine Grady

    1. Christine Grady is chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  6. Sergiu P. Pașca

    1. Sergiu P. Pașca is assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  7. Nenad Sestan

    1. Nenad Sestan is professor of neuroscience, of genetics, of psychiatry, and of comparative medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  8. Paola Arlotta

    1. Paola Arlotta is professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  9. James L. Bernat

    1. James L. Bernat is professor of neurology and medicine (active emeritus) at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  10. Jonathan Ting

    1. Jonathan Ting is assistant investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, Washington, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  11. Jeantine E. Lunshof

    1. Jeantine E. Lunshof is research scientist-ethicist at MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts; ethics consultant to the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; assistant professor in the Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  12. Eswar P. R. Iyer

    1. Eswar P. R. Iyer is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  13. Insoo Hyun

    1. Insoo Hyun is associate professor of bioethics and philosophy at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  14. Beatrice H. Capestany

    1. Beatrice H. Capestany is a postdoctoral fellow at the Science, Law, and Policy Lab at the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  15. George M. Church

    1. George M. Church is professor of genetics at Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  16. Hao Huang

    1. Hao Huang is associate professor of radiology at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  17. Hongjun Song

    1. Hongjun Song is Perelman professor of neuroscience at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

If researchers could create brain tissue in the laboratory that might appear to have conscious experiences or subjective phenomenal states, would that tissue deserve any of the protections routinely given to human or animal research subjects?

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 556, 429-432 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-04813-x

References

  1. Quadrato, G., Brown, J. & Arlotta, P. Nature Med. 22, 1220–1228 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pasca, S. P. Nature 553, 437–445 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Arlotta, P. Nature Meth. 15, 27–29 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Eisenstein, M. Nature Meth. 15, 19–22 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lancaster, M. A. & Knoblich, J. A. Nature Protoc. 9, 2329–2340 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Qian, X. et al. Cell 165, 1238–1254 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kadoshima, T. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 20284–20289 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Birey, F. et al. Nature 545, 54–59 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sloan, S. A. et al. Neuron 95, 779–790 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Mariani, J. et al. Cell 162, 375–390 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Ye, F. et al. Neuron 96, 1041–1054 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Qian, X., Nguyen, H. N., Jacob, F., Song, H. & Ming, G. L. Development 144, 952–957 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Quadrato, G. et al. Nature 545, 48–53 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Mansour, A. A. et al. Nature Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4127 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Koch, C., Massimini, M., Boly, M. & Tononi, G. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 17, 307–321 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Bourret, R. et al. Stem Cell. Res. Ther. 7, 87 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Greely, H. T., Ramos, K. M. & Grady, C. Neuron 92, 637–641 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Gray Matters: Integrative Approaches for Neuroscience, Ethics, and Society (Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, 2014); available at https://go.nature.com/2qvm83f

    Google Scholar 

  19. Gray Matters: Topics at the Intersection of Neuroscience, Ethics, and Society (Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, 2015); available at https://go.nature.com/2vdqx5j

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Associate or Senior Editor (Immunology), Nature Communications

    The Editor in Immunology at Nature Communications will handle original research papers and work on all aspects of the editorial process.

    London, Beijing or Shanghai - Hybrid working model

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Assistant Professor - Cell Physiology & Molecular Biophysics

    Opportunity in the Department of Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics (CPMB) at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC)

    Lubbock, Texas

    Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine

  • Postdoctoral Associate- Curing Brain Tumors

    Houston, Texas (US)

    Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

  • Professor

    Energy AI / Grid Modernization / Hydrogen Energy / Power Semiconductor Concentration / KENTECH College

    21, Kentech-gil, Naju-si, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea(KR)

    Korea Institute of Energy Technology

  • Professor in Macromolecular Chemistry

    The Department of Chemistry - Ångström conducts research and education in Chemistry. The department has 260 employees and has a turnover of 290 mil...

    Uppsala (Stad) (SE)

    Uppsala University

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links