Navigating Consciousness and Sentience in Swiss Law through Brain Organoids and Animal Models

In recent years, researchers have succeeded in growing brain organoids from human stem cells in the laboratory. These "mini-brains" open up new possibilities for researching early stages of human brain development, among other things, without having to resort to animal models. However, the rapid development in this field of research raises a crucial question: what happens when these brain organoids are able to show signs of consciousness and sentience?

Investigating the sentience and consciousness of living beings is a key challenge in various areas of research. These concepts have long been explored in both bioethics and neuroscience. In law, however, "consciousness" and "sentience" often remain undefined, and there is no legal basis for assessing the consciousness and sentience of living beings or new entities such as brain organoids.

This dissertation project analyzes the concepts and current scientific models of "consciousness" and "sentience". The extent to which they could be integrated into the Swiss legal system will be examined. It will also investigate whether existing legal concepts, such as the capacity of judgment, are sufficient to fully encompass the consciousness and sentience of living beings or entities. Both brain organoids and existing animal models will serve as reference figures in these investigations.

The aim of the dissertation project is to develop a legal definition and a model for the assessment of "consciousness" and "sentience". The ultimate goal is to show whether and how such a model can be integrated and applied in Swiss law.

Prof. Dr. Alfred Früh is supervising Daniel Zeyer's dissertation project as part of the research project "The Use of Organoids to Promote 3R" funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.