The National Academies called for the establishment of Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight (ESCRO) Committees in its 2005 ''Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research'' to manage the ethical and legal concerns in human

embryonic stem cell research Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre- implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consis ...

. Because of the complexity and novelty of many of the issues involved in that research, the Guidelines committee believes that all research institutions engaged in human

should create and maintain these committees at the local level. The composition and responsibilities of ESCRO committees was further clarified in the ''Amendments to the National Academies' Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research'', released in February 2007.2007 Amendments to the National Academies' Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research
/ref>

Organization

The National Academies' Guidelines make clear that activities related to human

should be overseen by an ESCRO committee. Those committees could be internal to a single institution or established jointly with one or more other institutions. Alternatively, an institution may have its proposals reviewed by an ESCRO committee of another institution or by an independent ESCRO committee. Many of these changes are discussed in the ''2007 Amendments''.2007 Amendments
/ref>

Composition

The composition of ESCRO committees was specified to include representatives of the public and people with expertise in developmental biology, stem cell research, molecular biology, assisted reproduction, and ethical and legal issues in human

. The ''2007 Amendments'' clarified that public representations should be independent and lay and in addition to the listed areas of scientific expertise. Although ESCRO committees may overlap with other oversight committees, it should not be a subcommittee of an

Institutional Review Board An institutional review board (IRB), also known as an independent ethics committee (IEC), ethical review board (ERB), or research ethics board (REB), is a committee that applies research ethics by reviewing the methods proposed for research to ...

, as its responsibilities extend beyond human subject protections.

Responsibilities

The Guidelines assigns several responsibilities to ESCRO committees: *provide oversight over all issues related to derivation and use of hES cell lines *review and approve the scientific merit of research protocols *review compliance of all in-house human

with all relevant regulations and these guidelines *maintain registries of human

conducted at the institution and hES cell lines derived or imported by institutional investigators *facilitate education of investigators involved in human

References and resources

{{Reflist

Advice for ESCRO committees

*Hanna, K.E. (2007).
Ball of confusion: How stem cells have stymied review boards
''Research Practitioner'' 8(4): 128-136. *O'Rourke, P.P., M. Abelman, and K.G. Heffernan. (2007). Establishing institutional oversight for human embryonic stem cell research: Creating an ESCRO Committee. ''Medical Research Law & Policy Report'' 6(15): 416-423. *Zettler, P., L.E. Wolf, and B. Lo. (2007).

''Academic Medicine'' 82: 6-10.

External links

National Academies Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee
*

' (2005) *

' (2007) Stem cell research United States National Academy of Sciences