Moral-oids: An Ethical Exploration of Organoid Models in Biomedical Research

This project focuses on the ethical and social challenges of organoids, with due attention to implications for policy. During this project, I will be focussing 1) on the ethical status of organoids (in which way are organoids related to the human donor? Can we use all kinds of stem cells for making organoids?), and 2) on the implications of the use of organoids regarding the replacement and reduction of animals in experimental medical research.  This will be done by investigating the existing literature and setting up empirical tools to explore the attitudes and opinions of different stakeholders (such as donors, researchers, biobank managers, policy makers, experts involved in the use of animals for research, etc.) on the development of adaptive structures. A cooperative analysis on ethical policies will be conducted in different European countries. With this project, I aim to achieve the following results: Establishment of the state of the art of the ethical aspects of the use of organoids. Establishment of the views of key stakeholders on the use of organoids. Development of an ethical framework for the use of organoids in medical research.