Ethical Concerns in Biotechnology

Catalog description

Competent, successful health practitioners understand the ethical and social impacts of advancements in medicine as well as they comprehend the scientific and technical aspects. BIOT310 will provide students with experience in effectively communicating complex information to multiple audiences, professional and lay, while simultaneously engaging with the moral dilemmas that abound relating to clinical trials, informed consent, genetic manipulation, non-human animal testing, and technology transfer. Lessons from historical cases will inform class discussions and serve as a foundation for future deliberations – in the course and beyond. Students will unravel the interconnections between research and therapy as well as the ethical challenges accompanying each. Readings will draw from ethics, history, and the life and social sciences, and projects will encourage students to see human consequences of technical choices.