Biotechnology meets society: promises, risks, and ethical frontiers

Biotechnology has the power to reshape life itself - from medicine to agriculture, from the lab to natural ecosystems. But as we gain the ability to engineer living organisms, we also face important societal and ethical questions: What are the risks? Are there limits to how far research should go? And who gets to decide?

This evening brings together Prof. Yolanda Schaerli (synthetic biology), Prof. Raffaele Rodogno (ethics), and Prof. Nolwenn Bühler (social sciences) from the Université de Lausanne (UNIL) to explore both the promises and the risks of biotechnology. Drawing on concrete examples from synthetic biology and the release of genetically modified organisms, we will discuss how we make decisions under uncertainty, how values shape scientific research, and whether some societal boundaries should not be crossed. We will finally broaden the discussion to consider how scientific discoveries interact with social, environmental, and political contexts, and how they challenge existing ethical frameworks.

This event is open to everyone interested in the societal implications of scientific research.