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EuroStemCell
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Ready or Not? A Role Play on Taking Stem Cells to the Clinic
This role-play activity, from Eurostemcell, allows students to explore some of issues around stem cell research and its medical applications, enabling them to think about and develop their own views on this very exciting, controversial field. The role play has been designed to address the following issues:
• Why use embryos for stem cell research? What about tissue (adult) stem cells?
• What are the risks involved, compared to the benefits?
• May this type of research make human cloning more likely?
• Who will own the results of the research and/or the medical outcomes?
• Who will have access to the medical benefits that are promised?
• How does competition between scientists affect research?
The scenario for the role play centres on a biotechnology company called Stem Cell Therapeutics. The company has recently developed a way of using a type of nerve cell (called oligodendrocytes) made from human embryonic stem cells to repair spinal cord injury in animals. They now want to use these cells to treat patients who have suffered spinal cord injuries.
Students hold a mock meeting of the Research Ethics Committee assigned the task of deciding whether Stem Cell Therapeutics may or may not go ahead with a clinical trial. During the meeting they must take on the role of a particular character and defend the interests or concerns of that person or group.
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Ready or not?: introduction 236.7 KB
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Facilitator's debriefing notes 216.12 KB
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Ready or not?: biographies 607.11 KB
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Ready or not?: introduction 236.7 KB -
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Facilitator's debriefing notes 216.12 KB
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Ready or not?: biographies 607.11 KB
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