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Genetics and Genomics

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Bioethics

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Finding Fault?: Exploring Legal Duties To Return Incidental Findings In Genomic Research, Elizabeth R. Pike, Karen H. Rothenberg, Benjamin E. Berkman Jan 2014

Finding Fault?: Exploring Legal Duties To Return Incidental Findings In Genomic Research, Elizabeth R. Pike, Karen H. Rothenberg, Benjamin E. Berkman

Faculty Scholarship

The use of whole genome sequencing in biomedical research is expected to produce dramatic advances in human health. The increasing use of this powerful, data-rich new technology in research, however, will inevitably give rise to incidental findings (IFs), findings with individual health or reproductive significance that are beyond the aims of the particular research, and the related questions of whether and to what extent researchers have an ethical obligation to return IFs. Many have concluded that researchers have an ethical obligation to return some findings in some circumstances, but have provided vague or context-dependent approaches to determining which IFs must …


Synthetic Hype: A Skeptical View Of The Promise Of Synthetic Biology, Jonathan Kahn Jan 2011

Synthetic Hype: A Skeptical View Of The Promise Of Synthetic Biology, Jonathan Kahn

Faculty Scholarship

This article urges a cautious approach to assessing the promises of synthetic biology based on broad political and economic concerns rather than technical ones. Specifically, I mark three related dynamics which place the current buzz around synthetic biology in a broader context. These dynamics are not necessarily distinctive to synthetic biology, but perhaps for that very reason, they may carry added weight. First, is the place of synthetic biology as the latest entry in the procession of what I call the “receding horizons of biotechnological promise.” Second, is the excitement generated by the related promise of finding seemingly direct technological …