Ana Pereira Daoud
Understanding the ethical landscape of creating gametes in vitro, modifying them pre-emptively, and using them to create (non-viable) research embryos
Ana has a Bachelor degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences and a Master degree in Applied Ethics, both from Utrecht University. She did her PhD at Maastricht University on the ethical acceptability of research with so-called 3D human embryo-like structures (hELS), i.e., three-dimensional clusters of (induced or embryonic) pluripotent stem cells that mimic aspects of early (human) embryogenesis, and she looks forward to defend her dissertation on February 6, 2023. Ana’s postdoc research in the HipGametes consortium of the Pluripotent Stem cells for Inherited Diseases and Embryonic Research (PSIDER) research program started in September 2022. Her research in this project will focus on the ethical ramifications of in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), i.e., the creation of sperm and egg cells from stem cells, and the ethical acceptability of pre-emptively modifying these stem cell-derived gametes in order to create non-viable embryos for research purposes. At MERLN, Ana will help scrutinize the ethics of research with particular (human and non-human) ELS in collaboration with dr. Stefan Giselbrecht and prof. dr. Guido de Wert.
