Towards an ethics safe harbor for global biomedical research

Although increasingly global, data-driven genomics and other ‘omics’-focused research hold great promise for health discoveries, current research ethics review systems around the world challenge potential improvements in human health from such research. To overcome this challenge, we propose a ‘Safe Harbor Framework for International Ethics Equivalency’ that facilitates the harmonization of ethics review of specific types of data-driven international research projects while respecting globally transposable research ethics norms and principles. The Safe Harbor would consist in part of an agency supporting an International Federation for Ethics Review (IFER), formed by a voluntary compact among countries, granting agencies, philanthropies, institutions, and healthcare, patient advocacy, and research organizations. IFER would be both a central ethics review body, and also a forum for review and follow-up of policies concerning ethics norms for international research projects. It would be built on five principle elements: (1) registration, (2) compliance review, (3) recognition, (4) monitoring and enforcement, and (5) public participation. The Safe Harbor would create many benefits for researchers, countries, and the general public, and may eventually have application beyond (gen)omics to other areas of biomedical research that increasingly engage in secondary use of data and present only negligible risks.     

生物信息学在法医学中的应用与展望

自DNA指纹技术应用于司法实践的报道以来,法医DNA分析发挥着越来越重要的作用。近年来,随着基因组学高通量测序技术的快速发展,生物信息学分析手段也逐渐开始与法医学应用结合,极大地扩展了法医物证的分析能力。本文综合阐述了法医遗传学所涉及的基因组、表观组以及转录组生物信息分析相关研究现状以及发展趋势。     

Yesterday's war; tomorrow's technology: peer commentary on ‘Ethical,legal, social and policy issues in the use of genomic technologies by the US military’

A recent article by Maxwell J. Mehlman and Tracy Yeheng Li, in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, sought to examine the ethical, legal, social, and policy issues associated with the use of genetic screening and germ-line therapies (‘genomic technologies’) by the US Military. In this commentary, we will elaborate several related matters: the relationship between genetic and non-genetic screening methods, the history of selection processes and force strength, and the consequences and ethics of, as Mehlman and Li suggest, engineering enhanced soldiers. We contend, first, that the strengths of genomic testing as a method of determining enrollment in the armed forces has limited appeal, given the state of current selection methods in the US armed forces. Second, that the vagaries of genetic selection, much like other forms of selection that do not bear causally or reliably on soldier performance (such as race, gender, and sexuality), pose a systematic threat to force strength by limiting the (valuable) diversity of combat units. Third, that the idea of enhancing warfighters through germ-line interventions poses serious ethical issues in terms of the control and ownership of ‘enhancements’ when members separate from service.     

Massively parallel sequencing and the emergence of forensic genomics: Defining the policy and legal issues for law enforcement

Use of DNA in forensic science will be significantly influenced by new technology in coming years. Massively parallel sequencing and forensic genomics will hasten the broadening of forensic DNA analysis beyond short tandem repeats for identity towards a wider array of genetic markers, in applications as diverse as predictive phenotyping, ancestry assignment, and full mitochondrial genome analysis. With these new applications come a range of legal and policy implications, as forensic science touches on areas as diverse as ‘big data’, privacy and protected health information. Although these applications have the potential to make a more immediate and decisive forensic intelligence contribution to criminal investigations, they raise policy issues that will require detailed consideration if this potential is to be realised. The purpose of this paper is to identify the scope of the issues that will confront forensic and user communities.     

亲权鉴定中常用STR基因座的基因组学和遗传学分析

美国联邦调查局建立的联合DNA索引系统即CODIS系统至今已有10年,该系统确定的13个STR基因座及近年来开发的PentaD、PentaE、D2S1338和D19S433基因座被全世界范围内的实验室广泛采用,在亲权鉴定和罪犯数据库建设等方面发挥了重要的作用。本文利用Web of Knowledge核心检索系统和Elsevier等全文数据库及网络资源,对近年来常用STR基因座的基因组学特征和遗传学特征进行了深入地分析,并对这些STR基因座在实践中的应用情况进行了综述。     

Brazilian genomics and bioinformatics: instituting new innovation pathways in a global context

Abstract

The paper raises issues of analysis and policy for science and technology in developing countries within the global context of the post-genomic era. Based on a case study of a newly created Brazilian research and technology capability, it argues for an understanding of variety creation, where new organizational forms often transgress established scientific and organizational boundaries and arrangements. In particular, new frontiers of science and technology can be opened up by the alternative trajectories generated by differences in socio-economic, institutional and ecological conditions in ways that thereby reinforce those very differences. It stresses the inherent unevenness and heterogeneity of innovation processes. By focusing on the geopolitical significance of diverse pathways of science and innovation, the approach suggests an alternative vision to catch-up models of innovation and development in terms of variety creation.     

布鲁氏菌全基因组DNA芯片研制及比较基因组杂交方法的建立

为利用布鲁氏菌强毒株马耳他布鲁氏菌(B.melitensis)16M和流产布鲁氏菌(B.abortus)9-941全基因组序列,构建布鲁氏菌全基因组DNA芯片,并将其应用于比较基因组学分析,从基因库下载马耳他布鲁氏菌16M和流产布鲁氏菌9-941中的3 218个基因设计引物,经过条件优化和重新设计引物等方法进行大规模PCR扩增,成功扩增3 212条基因。产物纯化后点制醛基修饰玻片,每个基因2个点,加上阳性和阴性对照,芯片上合计6 912个探针。囊括了布鲁氏菌3 212条基因和阳性、阴性对照点。采用Cy3/Cy5双色荧光杂交技术,分别以马耳他布鲁氏菌16M和流产布鲁氏菌9-941作为参照和待测样本进行荧光双色杂交分析,成功建立了布鲁氏菌比较基因组杂交分析方法。若干质控杂交结果表明,建立的全基因组DNA芯片杂交结果与全基因组测序结果完全一致。证明成功建立了基于全基因组DNA芯片的布鲁氏菌比较基因组学技术平台。