This year, Gustavus will be hosting the 53 Nobel Conference, with this year’s theme focusing on reproductive technology.

On October 3 and 4, seven presenters and professors will come to Gustavus from all different backgrounds to talk about their studies on reproductive technology.

The conference will provide an indepth look at science: “From artificial insemination to in vitro fertilization to contraception, reproductive technologies have long raised a host of complex scientific, social, and ethical questions,” Gustavus’ website states.

And this is one of the goals for the annual conference, “to explore revolutionary, transformative and pressing scientific questions and the ethical issues that arise with them.”

“[The mission is] to bring cutting edge science technology to the audience and engage them in conversation with experts,” Associate Professor in Classics and Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies Yurie Hong said.

Her hope for the Gustavus community is that the conversation continues after the conference: “We’ve made the talks shorter to demonstrate for the audience that this is an ongoing conversation with multiple voices at the table,” Hong said.

“People don’t always have to agree with one another… they can challenge each other in a way that moves the conversation forward that’s productive and gets people to think about these issues.”

She also hopes that individuals reflect on their own.

She believes it “surfaces your own values and ideals and intellectual or ethical frameworks.”

“[I am] also very interested in the conversation about the ethical implications of this work,” geneticist, and biology professor Colleen Jacks ‘79 said. She hopes to answer questions of her own, “What boundaries do we as a society want to set in this regard? Who will have access to the medical procedures?”

First-Year Matthew Meier saw the Nobel Conference as a junior in high school.

“I thought that it was going to be above my understanding because I was a junior, and I thought that they’d be talking way above my head, but it was very easy to understand,” Meier said.

The Nobel Conference was created after Gustavus leaders attended the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden.

Because of the college’s Swedish roots and respect for the Nobel ceremony’s credibility, representatives asked The Nobel Foundation to endorse the conference.

The first conference, held in 1965, was about “Genetics and the Future of Man”.

Since then, they’ve stuck to that mission of providing conversations on new technology, as well as engaging discussion with those outside of the science community.

While it is a science conference, “there should be something in there for everybody, no matter what their major or what their angle is,” Hong said.

“I expect it to be essential to my life in some way. I expect huge debates and arguments between people,” First-Year Tyra Banks said.

“I hope it strengthens our knowledge of reproductive technology and make people more aware of this growing science.”
Gustavus students are highly encouraged by their professors to reserve their free ticket and attend the conference.

The hope is to open the minds of students and others in the community to the realness of this new technology.

“I hope what people come away with is this idea that science does not take place in a vacuum,” Hong said.

“It’s something that impacts people’s lives… but also in that broader societal level, it’s something that says something about who we are as a society… It’s done by humans, it impacts humans.”

There will be over seven lectures with more than five musical performances written specifically for the conference and performed by Gustavus musical groups.

Marsha Saxton is a director of research and training at the World Institute on Disability and will be speaking on behalf of people with disabilities and their views on reproductive technology.

Jacob Corn, from the University of California, Berkeley, conducts research on the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technique and will be discussing gene editing and the ethics that come with it.

Mitochondrial transfer, male contraception, and justice-oriented approaches to these technologies are among the topics that will be discussed.

The conference will be live-streamed, and tickets are available on the Gustavus website and are open to the public.