November 6, 2008

expert encounter: who’s afraid of xenotransplantation?

Speakers:
Dr Carol Readhead, California Institute of Techology, Pasadena
Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science & Society, Imperial College London

Recently, Lord Robert Winston announced that he was being forced to move his xenotransplantation work (involving transplanting cells and tissues from animals to humans to overcome the shortage of human transplant material) to California because of the strict regulation of animal research in the UK. This created further controversy when the former head of the HFEA raised concerns about the safety of this field of research. In this briefing, Lord Winston and his main collaborator discussed their work on breeding transgenic pigs to produce cells and tissues for potential transplantation.