Collaborative Bioethics – serie

This Open Access book is a guide to good, responsible research at each step of the process of research discovery, so that a researcher at the beginning of a scientific career has a clear pathway to doing good research and producing reliable results.The textbook will give context to the practices described in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, guided by the fundamental principles or research integrity – reliability, honesty, respect, and accountability. Although we base the book on the European Code, the principles are the same in the global research community, such as those outlined in Fostering Integrity in Research from the US National Academies; Engineering and Medicine. The chapters in the book follow good research practices, give practical advice and address basic principles. In this way, the book is applicable to different research fields. It directs readers to various sources for further and updated information, particularly drawing from the resources available at The Embassy of Good Science, the European platform for research integrity and ethics.

This Open Access book is a guide to good, responsible research at each step of the process of research discovery, so that a researcher at the beginning of a scientific career has a clear pathway to doing good research and producing reliable results.The textbook will give context to the practices described in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, guided by the fundamental principles or research integrity – reliability, honesty, respect, and accountability. Although we base the book on the European Code, the principles are the same in the global research community, such as those outlined in Fostering Integrity in Research from the US National Academies; Engineering and Medicine. The chapters in the book follow good research practices, give practical advice and address basic principles. In this way, the book is applicable to different research fields. It directs readers to various sources for further and updated information, particularly drawing from the resources available at The Embassy of Good Science, the European platform for research integrity and ethics.

The Handbook of Bioethical Decisions is aimed at addressing and analyzing the most important ethical concerns and moral quandaries arisen in biomedical and scientific research. As such, it identifies and problematizes on a comprehensive range of ethical issues researchers must deal with in different critical contexts. Thus, the Handbook, Vol. I, may be helpful for them to make decisions and deliberate in complex practical scenarios. In this fashion, the volume reunites different points of view to give readers room enough to get a better knowledge and take their own position on pressing bioethical issues of the day. Consequently, this work seeks to engender dense ethical epistemology scientists can count on when conducting latest generation biomedical research. By bringing together an impressive array of contributions on the most important elements and categories for “at the bench” bioethical decisions as well as offering chapters by some of the most world renowned and prominent experts in bioethics, the Handbook, Vol. I, is a paradigmatic text in its area and a valuable resource for courses on bioethics, and biomedical research, as well as courses that discuss ethics and the biosciences at different professional levels, biomedical industry, pharmacological companies and the public sphere in general.

The Handbook of Bioethical Decisions is aimed at addressing and analyzing the most important ethical concerns and moral quandaries arisen in biomedical and scientific research. As such, it identifies and problematizes on a comprehensive range of ethical issues researchers must deal with in different critical contexts. Thus, the Handbook, Vol. I, may be helpful for them to make decisions and deliberate in complex practical scenarios. In this fashion, the volume reunites different points of view to give readers room enough to get a better knowledge and take their own position on pressing bioethical issues of the day. Consequently, this work seeks to engender dense ethical epistemology scientists can count on when conducting latest generation biomedical research. By bringing together an impressive array of contributions on the most important elements and categories for “at the bench” bioethical decisions as well as offering chapters by some of the most world renowned and prominent experts in bioethics, the Handbook, Vol. I, is a paradigmatic text in its area and a valuable resource for courses on bioethics, and biomedical research, as well as courses that discuss ethics and the biosciences at different professional levels, biomedical industry, pharmacological companies and the public sphere in general.

The Handbook of Bioethical Decisions Volume II addresses and analyzes the most important ethical concerns and moral quandaries related to scientific integrity and institutional ethics. It counts on two parts, Part One: Research Ethics, which addresses issues related to Scientific Integrity, Research Misconduct and Conducting Ethical Research, and Part Two: Institutional Ethics and Bioethics Committees, which explores Institutional Ethics issues, Ethics and Bioethics Committees’ roles and scopes, and Bioethical Issues in Institutional Ethics. Consequently, the Handbook, Vol. II, offers a remarkable collection of works by outstanding international experts on institutional and research ethics, in order for bioethics practitioners to obtain better elements to address key issues related to integrity in research as well as to decision-making processes. In this fashion, this volume is a valuable resource for professionals working on different bioethical and biomedical fields, such as, ethics and bioethics committees, health care institutions, biomedical and pharmacological companies, and academic settings, among others.Chapter 26 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The Handbook of Bioethical Decisions Volume II addresses and analyzes the most important ethical concerns and moral quandaries related to scientific integrity and institutional ethics. It counts on two parts, Part One: Research Ethics, which addresses issues related to Scientific Integrity, Research Misconduct and Conducting Ethical Research, and Part Two: Institutional Ethics and Bioethics Committees, which explores Institutional Ethics issues, Ethics and Bioethics Committees’ roles and scopes, and Bioethical Issues in Institutional Ethics. Consequently, the Handbook, Vol. II, offers a remarkable collection of works by outstanding international experts on institutional and research ethics, in order for bioethics practitioners to obtain better elements to address key issues related to integrity in research as well as to decision-making processes. In this fashion, this volume is a valuable resource for professionals working on different bioethical and biomedical fields, such as, ethics and bioethics committees, health care institutions, biomedical and pharmacological companies, and academic settings, among others.Chapter 26 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Brain organoids are small stem cell-derived, self-organizing models of specific brain regions that offer researchers new ways to study the human brain. Since their scientific debut over ten years ago, brain organoids have been used to generate tractable new bioengineered tools for understanding functional interconnectivity of the human brain, dysfunction involved in many neurodegenerative diseases, and certain molecular mechanisms underlying cognition.Despite this field’s considerable scientific promise, advances in human brain organoid research also raise novel philosophical questions and ethical concerns around the use of complex human brain models and the ethical boundaries that should exist when manipulating increasingly realistic bioengineered brain constructs. As researchers generate more realistic organoids in vitro that resemble human brains, it is critically important to understand what ethical boundaries may exist and where researchers and regulators should draw the line for research, both to reduce uncertainties over which projects to pursue in the lab and to address future concerns regulators and the public may harbor about whether this research, if left unexamined, could inadvertently undermine public trust in science. This proposed book delves into ongoing and proactive ethical discussions among ethicists and the neuroscientists involved with this cutting-edge work. Its ultimate goal is to foster greater awareness, understanding, and guidance for future management of ethical issues that may be unique to new areas of brain organoid research. This volume is the result of a close partnership between ethicists and scientists, each informing the other through a collaborative process of joint bioethical deliberation.

Brain organoids are small stem cell-derived, self-organizing models of specific brain regions that offer researchers new ways to study the human brain. Since their scientific debut over ten years ago, brain organoids have been used to generate tractable new bioengineered tools for understanding functional interconnectivity of the human brain, dysfunction involved in many neurodegenerative diseases, and certain molecular mechanisms underlying cognition.Despite this field’s considerable scientific promise, advances in human brain organoid research also raise novel philosophical questions and ethical concerns around the use of complex human brain models and the ethical boundaries that should exist when manipulating increasingly realistic bioengineered brain constructs. As researchers generate more realistic organoids in vitro that resemble human brains, it is critically important to understand what ethical boundaries may exist and where researchers and regulators should draw the line for research, both to reduce uncertainties over which projects to pursue in the lab and to address future concerns regulators and the public may harbor about whether this research, if left unexamined, could inadvertently undermine public trust in science. This proposed book delves into ongoing and proactive ethical discussions among ethicists and the neuroscientists involved with this cutting-edge work. Its ultimate goal is to foster greater awareness, understanding, and guidance for future management of ethical issues that may be unique to new areas of brain organoid research. This volume is the result of a close partnership between ethicists and scientists, each informing the other through a collaborative process of joint bioethical deliberation.

This volume examines regenerative medicine (RM) through a global bioethics lens that foregrounds the structural asymmetries, epistemic exclusions, and governance disparities shaping its development and uptake. RM refers to a range of innovative therapies, clinical interventions, and research activities aimed at repairing or replacing damaged or diseased human cells, tissues, and organs, with an emphasis on conditions currently considered incurable.While RM is often discussed using examples, standards, and governance models from high-income countries (the so-called “Global North”), much less is documented about its realities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in the “Global South.” These contexts are frequently overlooked in ways that understate their contributions, impose ill-fitting external frameworks, or perpetuate assumptions of absence or inactivity. Such omissions contribute to epistemic injustice, in which certain perspectives, priorities, and knowledge systems are marginalized in global health innovation.Responding to this imbalance, the present work assembles interdisciplinary contributions from scholars and practitioners deeply engaged with RM in LMICs. It adopts a collaborative bioethics approach that does not treat ethics as an afterthought to technological progress, but as integral to how innovation is imagined, governed, and shared. The collection employs a “reconnaissance mode of inquiry” to reveal underexplored practices, governance dynamics, and normative perspectives, allowing for locally grounded accounts that resist the constraints of dominant narratives.The chapters in the volume are organized in two parts:• Foundational Critiques — Analytical treatments of epistemic injustice, global asymmetries, and ethical pluralism in RM.• National Case Studies — Country-specific explorations of RM governance, practice, and ethics in diverse settings across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.By illuminating both the commonalities and divergences that emerge from these contexts, this book offers a richer, more inclusive account of RM and its ethical governance. It challenges the hegemony of Global North perspectives and points toward bioethical frameworks that are pluralistic, context-sensitive, and globally responsive.