The Ethics Of Research Biobanking

Biobanking, i.e. storage of biological samples or data emerging from such samples for diagnostic, therapeutic or research purposes, has been going on for decades. However, it is only since the mid 1990s that these activities have become the subject of considerable public attention, concern and debate. This shift in climate is due to several factors. The purpose of this book is to investigate some of the ethical, legal and social challenges raised by research biobanking in its different modern forms and formats. The issues raised by research biobanking in its modern form can be divided into four main clusters: how biological materials are entered into the bank; research biobanks as institutions; under what conditions researchers can access materials in the bank, and problems concerning ownership of biological materials and of intellectual property arising from such materials; and how the information is collected and stored, e.g. access-rights, disclosure, confidentiality, data security and data protection.

Biobank research and genomic information are changing the way we look at health and medicine. Genomics challenges our values and has always been controversial and difficult to regulate. In the future lies the promise of tailored medical treatments and pharmacogenomics but the borders between medical research and clinical practice are becoming blurred. We see sequencing platforms for research that can have diagnostic value for patients. Clinical applications and research have been kept separate, but the blurring lines challenges existing regulations and ethical frameworks. Then how do we regulate it? This book contains an overview of the existing regulatory landscape for biobank research in the Western world and some critical chapters to show how regulations and ethical frameworks are developed and work. How should international sharing work? How design an ethical informed consent? An underlying critique: the regulatory systems are becoming increasingly complex and opaque. The international community is building systems that should respond to that. According to the authors in fact, it is time to turn the ship around. Biobank researchers have a moral responsibility to look at and assess their work in relation to the bigger picture: the shared norms and values of current society. Research ethics shouldn’t only be a matter of bioethicists writing guidelines that professionals have to follow. Ethics should be practiced through discourse and regulatory frameworks need to be part of that public discourse. Ethics review should be then not merely application of bureaucracy and a burden for researchers but an arena where researchers discuss their projects, receive advice and practice their ethics skills.

Introduces readers to the state of the art of omics platforms and all aspects of omics approaches for clinical applications This book presents different high throughput omics platforms used to analyze tissue, plasma, and urine. The reader is introduced to state of the art analytical approaches (sample preparation and instrumentation) related to proteomics, peptidomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. In addition, the book highlights innovative approaches using bioinformatics, urine miRNAs, and MALDI tissue imaging in the context of clinical applications. Particular emphasis is put on integration of data generated from these different platforms in order to uncover the molecular landscape of diseases. The relevance of each approach to the clinical setting is explained and future applications for patient monitoring or treatment are discussed. Integration of omics Approaches and Systems Biology for Clinical Applications presents an overview of state of the art omics techniques. These methods are employed in order to obtain the comprehensive molecular profile of biological specimens. In addition, computational tools are used for organizing and integrating these multi-source data towards developing molecular models that reflect the pathophysiology of diseases. Investigation of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and bladder cancer are used as test cases. These represent multi-factorial, highly heterogeneous diseases, and are among the most significant health issues in developed countries with a rapidly aging population. The book presents novel insights on CKD and bladder cancer obtained by omics data integration as an example of the application of systems biology in the clinical setting. Describes a range of state of the art omics analytical platforms Covers all aspects of the systems biology approach—from sample preparation to data integration and bioinformatics analysis Contains specific examples of omics methods applied in the investigation of human diseases (Chronic Kidney Disease, Bladder Cancer) Integration of omics Approaches and Systems Biology for Clinical Applications will appeal to a wide spectrum of scientists including biologists, biotechnologists, biochemists, biophysicists, and bioinformaticians working on the different molecular platforms. It is also an excellent text for students interested in these fields.

Biobanks are promising instruments of biomedical research and of transnational medicine in particular. Ethical, legal and social issues associated with biobanking, however, have recently led to a more critical view on this concept. All efforts addressing these concerns have been grounded on well-established standards of biomedical ethics such as informed consent procedures, protection of individual autonomy, benefit sharing etc. By additionally highlighting the widely neglected aspect of trust, this book aims at broadening the horizon of the ELSI-debate and thus filling a gap in current research on biobanking. The contributions of leading experts and junior researchers cover a wide field of disciplines relevant for biobanking including law, ethics, medicine, public health, social sciences, philosophy and theology.

Population genomics research drawing on genetic databases has expanded rapidly, with some of this information being combined in 'biobanks'. Managing this information in an appropriate way is a highly complex ethical issue in the health policy arena. This book combines theoretical and empirical research to analyze the areas of conflict and consensus in the regulatory and ethical frameworks that have been developed to govern biobanks. Ethicists from the Department of Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Health Law (ETH) of the World Health Organization, the Institute of Biomedical Ethics of Geneva University and the Institute of Biomedical Ethics of the University of Zurich, with the support of the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN), examine the conditions under which genetic databases can be established, kept, and made use of in an ethically acceptable way. In addition to a comprehensive review of the scientific literature and a comparative analysis of existing normative frameworks, they present the results of in-depth interviews with experts around the world concerning the most unresolved and controversial issues. The results of that study, combined with their normative analysis, leads to recommendations for a better international framework.

"Human tissue and biobank research is of increasing importance for understanding the causes of widespread diseases and developing effective therapies. However, while the success of biobank research depends on the availability of a large number of samples and the consolidation of collections across country borders is very desirable from the perspective of researchers, the legal and ethical requirements for the procurement, storage and use of human tissue samples are rather heterogeneous across different countries. Moreover, the lack of comprehensive supranational regulation on human tissue and biobanking can be seen as posing a serious threat to transnational biomedical research. Against this background, it was one of the aims of the EU-funded Tiss.EU project ('Evaluation of Legislation and Related Guidelines on the Procurement, Storage and Transfer of Human Tissues and Cells in the European Union--an Evidence-Based Impact Analysis') to analyse the ethical and legal regulation of human tissue and biobank research across the 27 European Member States plus Switzerland. The results of nine international workshops and three conferences are gathered in this volume. While the country reports evaluate the implementation of ethical and legal guidelines at a national level, point out their strengths and deficits, and, where required, create an evidence base for the revision of said legislation, the conference reports address more general ethical and legal issues in this field. The volume is completed by a final presentation of project's results"--Publisher's description

With interdisciplinary chapters written by lawyers, sociologists, doctors and biobank practitioners, Global Genes, Local Concerns identifies and discusses the most pressing issues in contemporary biobanking. Addressing pressing questions such as how do national biobanks best contribute to translational research and how could academic and industrial exploitation, ownership and IPR issues be addressed and facilitated, this book contributes to the continued development of international biobanking by highlighting and analysing the complexities in this important area of research.

Part I Setting the scene -- Introduction: Individual rights, the public interest and biobank research 4000 (8) -- Genetic data and privacy protection -- Part II GDPR and European responses -- Biobank governance and the impact of the GDPR on the regulation of biobank research -- Controller' and processor's responsibilities in biobank research under GDPR -- Individual rights in biobank research under GDPR -- Safeguards and derogations relating to processing for archiving purposes in the scientific purposes: Article 89 analysis for biobank research -- A Pan-European analysis of Article 89 implementation and national biobank research regulations -- EEA, Switzerland analysis of GDPR requirements and national biobank research regulations -- Part III National insights in biobank regulatory frameworks -- Selected 10-15 countries for reports: Germany -- Greece -- France -- Finland -- Sweden -- United Kingdom -- Part IV Conclusions -- Reflections on individual rights, the public interest and biobank research, ramifications and ways forward. .