Project Narrative The lack of American Indian and Alaska Native professionals in genomic sciences today highlights the tremendous need for effective training and research programs to prepare the next generation of indigenous students to be successful in their pursuit of careers in genetics research. This program combines didactic and experiential training activities, together with indigenous and community-based models of learning, to engage underrepresented Native students in research on the ethical, legal, and social implications of genomics research.
PROJECT NARRATIVE Consumer protections are of rising importance to the sustainability of personal genomics and mobile health industries and realization of precision health, yet the extent of consumer protections available from the Federal Trade Commission (the primary federal agency in the United States responsible for ensuring online privacy and data security beyond medical settings, for the prevention of unfair and deceptive trade practices of companies that might not be governed by HIPAA, and for promoting innovation) are poorly characterized and have received surprisingly little ELSI re
PROJECT NARRATIVE The goal of the proposed research is to investigate how clinical genomic sequencing impacts families of pediatric patients. This research will develop an empirically informed framework of normative values important to families of pediatric patients, including ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI), which will then be used to elicit preferences for features of sequencing from a nationally representative sample of parents in the US.
PROJECT NARRATIVE The proposed K01 Award?'Evaluating the Risks and Benefits of the Next Generation of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests??will enable the candidate to acquire the academic background, research experience, and professional skills to become an independent ELSI investigator exploring the risks and benefits of current and emerging direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests.
Prenatal screening and testing technologies using genetic methods are rapidly expanding, offering increasing amounts of genetic information about the fetus. However, research shows that women from underserved populations are less likely to receive or accept prenatal genetic services, leading to discordant birth outcomes. We propose to explore the barriers to access and acceptance of prenatal genetic care among women from underserved populations.
This project is designed to improve our understanding of when to best communicate parental genetic risk information to minor children by assessing the minor?s readiness to receive such information from the perspective of the parent and the minor child themselves. We will interview parent-child pairs who have already communicated about parental genetic risk information to richly characterize experiences with, perspectives on, and implications of the communication event(s).
PROJECT NARRATIVE Consumer protections are of rising importance to the sustainability of personal genomics and mobile health industries and realization of precision health, yet the extent of consumer protections available from the Federal Trade Commission (the primary federal agency in the United States responsible for ensuring online privacy and data security beyond medical settings, for the prevention of unfair and deceptive trade practices of companies that might not be governed by HIPAA, and for promoting innovation) are poorly characterized and have received surprisingly little ELSI re
PROJECT NARRATIVE Research in reproductive genomics is shifting, from diagnostics to interventions in the human genome, epigenome, and microbiome. But we lack ethical guidance about how to conduct these human trials without causing undue harm, especially in regard to the women participants who are a necessary part of such trials. By building an ethical framework and a toolkit to guide researchers and institutional review boards, this project will create robust guidance for research in reprogenomics and a broadened consensus on these technologies among key professional bodies.
Genetic data partnerships: Enabling equitable access within academic/private data sharing agreements
PROJECT NARRATIVE ?Precision medicine? and other advances in genetic research require access to massive amounts of genetic and related health data, but private genetic datasets are growing rapidly in both value and size and pose a challenge to the public genetic data market. This research proposes to characterize and evaluate the factors influencing these genetic data partnerships (beginning with academics), compare market drivers to current existing governance structures, and offer a model for best practices.