1. The Swedish Research Council Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson Secretary General, Medicine

2. Sweden: Stem Cell Research Legislation and Ethical Guidelines A Survey of Swedish Stem Cell Research 2002 Outline VETENSKAPSRÅDET THE SWEDISH RESEARCH COUNCIL

3. Current Swedish legislation and EU convention The law (1991:115) on proceedings for research and treatment with fertilized human eggs contraceptives development of the embryo causes of malformations involuntary childlessness The biobank law (2002:297) banking of biological material collaboration and sharing Council of Europe: Convention on human rights and biomedicine 1997 signed but not ratified by Sweden

4. Ethical Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research Stem cells from embryos from IVF Surplus embryos from IVF is ethically acceptable to donated to research; informed consent from donors is necessary Creation of embryos for research purposes only, is ethically unacceptable at this time Adopted December 3, 2001, by the Swedish Research Council

5. Ethical Guidelines for Human Stem Cell Research Somatic cell nuclear transfer (therapeutic cloning) might be ethically acceptable, but can not be performed at this time due to the legal situation Adopted December 3, 2001, by the Swedish Research Council

6. informed consent needed by the donors of egg and sperm the embryo must be destroyed within 14 days an embryo can not be frozen for more than 5 years a fertilized egg that has been used for research can not be inserted into a woman’s body reproductive cloning not possible Legislation in Sweden: Regulating human embryonic stem cell research

7. A Survey – March 2002 Scientists involved in Stem cell research UniversityResearch Groups Researchers Umeå University1 11 Uppsala University3 14 Univ. of Agriculture1 2 Karolinska Institutet10102 Stockholm University4 20 Linköping University2 6 Göteborg University6 56 Chalmers Univ. of Techn.2 12 Lunds University4 65 Total33288

8. A Survey – March 2002 Areas of stem cell research Neurobiology Majority of scientists Haematopoietic research Longest tradition Embryonic stem cell research 1/3 of the world´s human embryonic stem cell lines in Aug. 2001

9. A Survey on Stem Cell Research – Conclusions Relatively new area which was hard to define Few, but successful groups Publications were cited more than avarage Economical support needed Increased interactions with other fields would be benificial

10. Human Embryonic Stem cell Research in Sweden Two centers: Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Lars Ährlund-Richter Outi Hovatta Gothenburgs University, Gothenburg Henrik Semb Peter Eriksson Anders Lindahl Lars Hamberger

11. 2001 6 genotypes – early cultures, frozen thawing started – possible to recover? 2002 1 genotype - long term culture > 9 months 3 genotypes - early cultures under expansion and analysis 2 genotypes - early cultures frozen Karolinska Institutet

12. Gothenburg University Four human embryonic stem cell lines fully characterized Additional 8 lines under charaterization

13. Funding programme of 75 milj. SEK 2003-2007 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 50 milj. SEK Swedish Diabetes Association 5 milj. SEK Swedish Research Council 20 milj. SEK Two networks and 9 individual projects