• Technology

• Health

• Environment

• Project Co-ordinator: Dr. rer. nat. Eva M. Neumann-Held

• Contact: Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Felix Thiele, M. Sc.

• Memorandum: J. P. Beckmann et al.: Xenotransplantation von Zellen, Geweben oder Organen. Wissenschaftliche Entwicklungen und ethisch-rechtliche Implikationen., Springer 2000, (Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment, Vol. 8)

• Documentation: “Künstliche Gewebe und Organe (sogenannte Bioartificial Devices) sind häufig nichts anderes als eine Art Xenotransplantation”; Download PDF (38 KB)

• Duration: 4/98–3/00

• Funding: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

• Further Information on “Xenotransplantation”

Nowadays, the life-sustaining, or quality of life improving, substitution of defective human organs by human donor organs is an almost routinely executed medical measure. The supply of donor organs is, however, still much lower than the demand. As a consequence, in parallel to the further development of organ transplantation techniques, methods involving the transplantation of non-human donor organs are receiving considerable attention. In this context, artificial organs, organ restitution and – the most discussed method at that time – xenotransplantation are being considered.
The goal of the interdisciplinary project group was to probe the medical possibilities of xenotransplantation, analyze its scientific difficulties, its ethical implications and its social relevance and thus contribute to a professionally well-founded and ethically justified  “status quo” report for public discussion.

Xenotransplantation