Modern genetic research gives us unprecedented ability to understand and manipulate fundamental biological processes. Our growing potential to understand and shape the world in genetic terms also seriously challenges basic beliefs and ethical norms. At the same time, values and norms affect the way genetic research is designed and conducted. Despite the significant ethical and societal implications of emerging genetic research, there are few venues for geneticists to participate in interdisciplinary research and to discuss these issues. The overall goal of this proposal is to create a Center for Integrating Ethics and Genetic Research (CIEGR) to develop and test new models of deliberative, interactive processes that integrate ethical, legal and social considerations into the design and conduct of current and emerging genetic research. CIEGR will achieve these goals through a number of innovative programs and products: 1) The Program for Integrated ELSI Research (PIER), which will identify and conduct research on ethical, legal and social issues, focusing on two areas of genetic research (human genetic variation and neuro- and behavioral genetics), and develop educational materials and policy guidance; 2) a Benchside Consultation Program BCP) for genetic researchers seeking real-time consultation to anticipate and develop policy guidance to address ethical, legal or social issues that could arise from current or future research and that are not addressed by other institutional mechanisms; 3) a Training and Education Program that will train four postdoctoral scholars in both genetic and ELSI research, and use the ethical issues identified by PIER and BCP as the basis for producing educational materials for genetic and ELSI researchers. These will include two documentary training films on research ethics, issue briefs, policy guidance, and webcasts of a series of Interactive Dialogs. The new models will be widely adoptable and will enable unprecedented consideration of genetic research ethics issues among the research community and the public.
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