Presentation:

Biology has already been regarded as the science of the twenty-first century. Organized by the Centre for Social Studies (CES) and by the Centre for Neuro-Sciences and Cell Biology (CNC) of the University of Coimbra, the Forum entitled Life Sciences and Society: Challenges of the Post-Genomic Era is aimed at creating a forum which will bring to the same arena scientists in this area and in that of the social and human sciences for an open, intensive and transdisciplinary debate on some of the new challenges which are beginning to emerge from Biology. It aims equally at pinpointing responses to the challenges concerned. The Forum will take the form of three closed workshops assembling the guest participants, each of which will be followed by a colloquium, in the course of which the matters debated and the conclusions arrived at will be shared with the public at large.

Health and Disease in the Intersection of Biology, the Environment, and Society

23 October 2007, 15H30, Amphitheatre of the Science Museum of Coimbra University

The first session will focus on recent breathroughs in biomedical research and how these can affect provision of health care.

Guest speakers at the first session will be:
Anne Fausto-Sterling (Brown University, USA)
Adele Clarke (University of California, San Francisco, USA)
Ana Soto and Carlos Sonnenschein (Tufts University, USA)
Vololona Rabeharisoa (Centre de Sociologie de L’Innovation, France)
Carlos Machado de Freitas (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil)
Jorge Sequeiros (Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal)

Further information

The Commodification of Life, Health, and the Environment: Challenges and Responses

12 February 2008, 15H30, Auditorium of the University of Coimbra

The second session will engage with the issues emerging from the links between scientific research, pharmaceutical and bio-technological companies, regulating bodies and traditional knowledge.

Guest speakers for the second session will be:
Marcelo Firpo Porto (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil)
Jean-Paul Gaudillière (L’Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale – INSERM, France)
Philippe Pignarre (Université Paris VIII, France)
Corinne Hayden (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Jerome Kassirer (Tufts University, USA)
Nikolas Rose (London School of Economics, UK)

Further information

Reshaping Human Life: Medically Assisted Reproduction, Stem Cells and Genetics

13 May 2008, 15H30, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The third session will set out to debate the manner in which new technologies may affect how a human being is defined and what interventions can legitimately be allowed in terms of genetic banks and regenerative medicine.

Guest speakers for this third session will be:
Peter Taylor (University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA)
Scott Gilbert (Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, USA)
Lenny Moss (University of Exeter, UK)
Jane Calvert (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Guido Van Steendam (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)

Organized and coordinated by:
João Arriscado Nunes, Centre for Social Studies, jan@ces.uc.pt
João Ramalho Santos, Centre for Neuro-Sciences and Cell Biology, jramalho@ci.uc.pt
Coimbra University

Sponsor:
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Support:
British Council
Foundation for Science and Technology
Luso-American Development Foundation
Science Museum, Coimbra University