Ethical discussions in an undergraduate tissue engineering course: 2nd joint conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society and the Biomedical Engineering Society

In a tissue engineering (TE) course, a discussion of ethics can provide a unique insight for the student. At Saint Louis University, ethics is part of the core curriculum, and in the TE course we take advantage of the student´s prior exposure to ethics to discuss issues arising in TE and medicine in general. Because of their previous exposure to ethical theory, most students can discuss ethics from a variety of perspectives including deontological, utilitarian, natural law, and theological perspectives. The intended outcome of the discussions is the establishment of a set of ethical guidelines applicable to the course project.