We will examine the many ethical challenges and opportunities presented by the rapid advancements in synthetic biology, emphasizing the importance of bioethics and the interdisciplinary nature of bioconvergence. This will include topics such as:

  1. Exploring the balance between the benefits of treating genetic disorders and ethical concerns over heritable modifications and designer babies.
  2. Consider the implications of creating synthetic organisms, including environmental impact, ethical treatment, and the definition of life.
  3. Examine the responsibility of preventing the misuse of synthetic biology research that could be used for harmful purposes, including biological weapons and bioterrorism.
  4. Discuss the challenges of protecting genetic data, including issues of consent, the risk of genetic discrimination, and ensuring data security in research and healthcare.

BIO

Professor Dov Greenbaum teaches law at Reichman University and is the Director of the Zvi Meitar Institute for legal implications of emerging technologies. His doctoral research was in bioinformatics and he has degrees and postdocs from Yale, Berkeley, Stanford and ETH Zurich. Dov is a lecturer in the department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science at Yale. He is also an attorney licensed to practice in California and before the USPTO. He is a IAPP certified privacy professional.

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