The Pontifical Academy for Life organized a two-day conference devoted to “The Ethics of Engineering Life.”

“Big leaps towards applying engineering principles to clinics and to restore body functions are provided by the development of gene-based and cell-based therapies,” the Academy said in its overview of the conference. “Successful attempts include the restoration of vision, the control of metabolic disorders, or the growth of tissues and organs for replacement.”

“While in the long run such systems engineering approaches will help to cure pertinent diseases, methods to modify, edit, correct and/or complement the genome of patients can be also used to improve a person’s lifestyle, or be even misused in various ways,” the Academy added.