Mark Hughes
The Human Embryo: Diagnosing Disease, Cloning, Stem Cell Research: We can, but Should we?
Underwritten by: Lawrence D. Sr.and Dolores Bos

This lecture is unavailable for rebroadcast.

Mark Hughes is Professor of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at Wayne State University and Director of the Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Program. The completion of the Human Genome Project heralds a new era of Functional Genomics. Raw DNA information that comprises the blueprint of human life will be data-mined, taken apart, spliced together and injected into cells, animals and embryos in ways we can barely imagine. The promise is for new medicines, predictive diagnostic tests and gene therapies. The potential for societal, legal and ethical abuses of this powerful information is especially strong in reproductive genetics involving human embryos and stem cells derived from embryos. Most every American has a visceral and reflexive response regarding these promising yet troubling technologies. Mark Hughes' lecture will churn those feelings and examine these opportunities.