The increasing availability and manipulability of human embryos raises the question in various medical contexts of how to deal with these appropriately. In order to clarify this, the Freiburg Joint Project on »The Status of the Extracorporeal Embryo,» sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, has set itself the task of dealing with this basic question in an interdisciplinary approach. The main findings of this large-scale project are compiled in this volume, which raises the question of the ontological, moral and legal status of the extracorporeal embryo from an interdisciplinary perspective, discusses criteria for the normative significance of this status and proposes regulations for national and international legislation.