BMBF projects

BMBF-Project LegEmerge - Legislative Authority in a State of Health Emergency

In order to combat the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 the legislator is also among those faced with enormous challenges. Scholars from the University of Passau examine possibilities and limitations for a coherent legal framework.

Genome editing in plant biotechnology - a science based legal analysis of regulatory problems

Researchers from the University of Passau reconsider from scratch the EU’s regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in view of the latest biological insights into genome editing techniques, for example CRISPR/Cas9.

HumArGam: Legal aspects of the generation, genetic modification and use of pluripotent stem cell-derived human gametes

The generation of iPSC-derived gametes, their genetic alteration, and their use for research, therapeutic or reproductive purposes raise intriguing and fundamental legal questions. Researchers from the University of Passau examine these in an interdisciplinary team.

REALiGN-HD: 'Human Genome Surgery'

The revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 technique equals genome surgery: serious diseases could be simply cut out of the genome. Scholars from the University of Passau examine the legal aspects in an interdisciplinary team.

Totipotency I: Has "totipotency" become obsolete as a criterion for establishing the normative status of an embryo?

What constitutes an "embryo" from a legal point of view? Hitherto, the answer has been "totipotency". This is outdated, say legal scholars from the University of Passau. In the new legal definition of the term "embryo" proposed in the project, development capacity of a cell or a cluster of cells still plays a decisive role.

Totipotency II: The chatoyant term "embryo"

The project touches fundamental questions of life: Which criteria determine whether an embryonic entity deserves protection by the law? Legal scholars from the University of Passau have examined various embryo definitions de lege lata and de lege ferenda in the light of new techniques of modern developmental biology.