Brain organoids are a new experimental model which will have broad implications for understanding and treating diseases of the brain. But as their sophistication continues to increase, could this ultimately lead to the develop of consciousness in vitro?

Dr Insoo Hyun joins us in this episode to discuss bioethics and brain organoids. In the episode we cover:

1) What brain organoids are, and the history of their development.
2) How new scientific paradigms force are forcing philosophers to reassess age-old philosophical questions.
3) How getting close to the actual research is important for ethics in the biomedical sciences.
4) What it would mean for an organoid to develop 'consciousness', and how we might consider the ethical and philosophical implications.

Dr Hyun is a bioethicist and the Director of Research Ethics at Harvard Medical School, as well as a professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve Medical School. He's a prinicipal investigator a BRAIN initiative project to study bioethical questions surrounding human brain organoids, and he has also worked on various committees at the ISSCR.