Regulating organoid research
Embedding a comprehensive ethical dimension to organoid-based research and related technologies.

About
HYBRIDA is a 3 year Science With and For Society (SwafS) project funded under HORIZON2020 coordinated by the University of Oslo, Norway.
The main objective is to develop a comprehensive regulatory framework for organoid research and organoid-related technologies.
Our contribution
- Operational guidelines for the field.
- Code of Responsible Conduct for researchers.
- Enhancement of existing ethics and normative frameworks.
- Supplement to the ECoC.
The challenge
The project aims to address how the conceptual, epistemological and regulatory uncertainties arise in organoid research, and to develop a conceptual and regulatory framework able to overcome the ‘persons vs things’ dualism.
From this follows also the need to communicate the potential and possible pitfalls of organoid research in ways that convey realistic- instead of hyped scenarios.


Key concepts
Basic objectives
1.Identify different forms of conceptual uncertainty by exploring the ontological, moral and legal status of organoids present in different cultures and knowledge traditions.
2.Reduce epistemological uncertainty in organoid research and produce improvements in impact assessment of organoïd-related technologies.
3.Explore regulatory uncertainty prevalent in existing normative and ethical frameworks pertaining to technologies similar to organoid-related technologies.
4.Understand the worries, fears and expectations of the general public, vulnerable groups, patients, donors and civil society organisations with respect to organoids.
5.Actively engage relevant stakeholders, in order to co-create and validate the 4 main products of HYBRIDA.
6.Produce a set of operational guidelines for the field of organoid research.
7.Produce a Code of responsible conduct for organoid researchers and, if needed, suggest a supplement to the ECoC.
8.Enhance existing ethics and normative frameworks with a focus on organoid research and organoid-related technologies.
Τarget Groups

Researchers in the field of organoids

Research Ethics Committees

Research Integrity Offices

Research administrators

Research Funding Organisations

Health Technology Assessment Bodies

Legal experts

Practitioners in clinical care

Biobank curators

Donors

Policy makers

Civil Society Organisations

Patients/Patient organizations

Vulnerable groups

General public

Science Journalists
Project roadmap
Timeline
1st stage Explore attitudes
WP1, WP2, WP3: Mapping activities
WP4: Engagement activities
WP5, WP6: Main outcomes
WP7: Coordination with SwafS-29
2nd stage Consultation and co-creation
WP4: Engagement activities
WP5, WP6: Main outcomes
WP7: Coordination with SwafS-29
3rd stage Assessment and validation
WP4: Engagement activities
WP5, WP6: Main outcomes
WP7: Coordination with SwafS-29
For a detailed and concise description of the project's stages of development, please see here.