Commercial biobanks and genetic research: ethical and legal issues

Beyond the Human Genome Project: The Age of Complete Human Genome Sequences and Pangenome References

The Human Genome Project was an enormous accomplishment, providing a foundation for countless explorations into the genetics and genomics of the human species. Yet for many years, the human genome reference sequence remained incomplete and lacked representation of human genetic diversity. Recently, two major advances have emerged to address these shortcomings: complete gap-free human genome sequences, such as the one developed by the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium, and high-quality pangenomes, such as the one developed by the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium. Facilitated by advances in long-read DNA sequencing and genome assembly algorithms, complete human genome sequences resolve regions that have been historically difficult to sequence, including centromeres, telomeres, and segmental duplications. In parallel, pangenomes capture the extensive genetic diversity across populations worldwide. Together, these advances usher in a new era of genomics research, enhancing the accuracy of genomic analysis, paving the path for precision medicine, and contributing to deeper insights into human biology.

The way forward for neuroethics in Japan: A review of five topics surrounding present challenges

Neuroethics is the study of how neuroscience impacts humans and society. About 15 years have passed since neuroethics was introduced to Japan, yet the field of neuroethics still seeks developed methodologies and an established academic identity. In light of progress in neuroscience and neurotechnology, the challenges for Japanese neuroethics in the 2020s can be categorized into five topics. (1) The need for further research into the importance of informed consent in psychiatric research and the promotion of public-patient engagement. (2) The need for a framework that constructs a global environment for neuroscience research that utilizes reliable samples and data. (3) The need for ethical support within a Japanese context regarding the construction of brain banks and the research surrounding their use. It is also important to reconsider the moral value of the human neural system and make comparisons with non-human primates. (4) An urgent need to study neuromodulation technologies that intervene in emotions. (5) The need to reconsider neuroscience and neurotechnology from social points of view. Rules for neuroenhancements and do-it-yourself neurotechnologies are urgently needed, while from a broader perspective, it is essential to study the points of contact between neuroscience and public health.

Ethics and Epistemology of Big Data

In this Symposium on the Ethics and Epistemology of Big Data, we present four perspectives on the ways in which the rapid growth in size of research databanks-i.e. their shift into the realm of "big data"-has changed their moral, socio-political, and epistemic status. While there is clearly something different about "big data" databanks, we encourage readers to place the arguments presented in this Symposium in the context of longstanding debates about the ethics, politics, and epistemology of biobank, database, genetic, and epidemiological research.

Ethically sustainable governance in the biobanking of eggs and embryos for research

Biobanking of human tissues is associated with a range of ethical, legal, and social (ELS) challenges. These include difficulties in operationalising informed consent protocols, protecting donors' privacy, managing the return of incidental findings, conceptualising ownership of tissues, and benefit sharing. Though largely unresolved, these challenges are well documented and debated in academic literature. One common response to the ELS challenges of biobanks is a call for strong and independent governance of biobanks. Theorists who argue along these lines suggest that since fully informed consent to a single research project is often not feasible, research participants should be given the additional protection of being allowed to consent to the governance framework of the biobank. Such governance therefore needs to be transparent and ethically sustainable. In this paper we review the governance challenges of establishing and maintaining human tissue biobanks. We then discuss how the creation of a biobank for eggs and embryos, in particular, may introduce additional or unique challenges beyond those presented by the biobanking of other human tissues. Following previous work on biobank governance, we argue that ethically sustainable governance needs to be participatory, adaptive, and trustworthy.

Public-private relationships in biobanking: a still underestimated key component of open innovation

Access to human bioresources is essential to the understanding of human diseases and to the discovery of new biomarkers aimed at improving the diagnosis, prognosis, and the predictive response of patients to treatments. The use of biospecimens is strictly controlled by ethical assessment, which complies with the laws of the country. These laws regulate the partnerships between the biobanks and industrial actors. However, private-public partnerships (PPP) can be limiting for several reasons, which can hamper the discovery of new biological tests and new active molecules targeted to human diseases. The bottlenecks and roadblocks in establishing these partnerships include: poor organization of the biobank in setting up PPP, evaluation of the cost of human samples, the absence of experience on the public side in setting up contracts with industry, and the fact that public and private partners may not share the same objectives. However, it is critical, in particular for academic biobanks, to establish strong PPP to accelerate translational research for the benefits of patients, and to allow the sustainability of the biobank. The purpose of this review is to discuss the main bottlenecks and roadblocks that can hamper the establishment of PPP based on solid and trusting relationships.

Standardization developments for large scale biobanks in smoking related diseases - a model system for blood sample processing and storage

BACKGROUND

Biobank samples stored in biobanks give researchers and respiratory healthcare institutions access to datasets of analytes valuable for both diagnostic and research practices. The usefulness of these samples in clinical decision-making is highly dependent on their quality and integrity. New procedures that better preserve sample integrity and reduce degradation are being developed to meet the needs of both present and future biobanking. Hereby we present an automatic sample workflow scheme that is designed to handle high numbers of blood samples.

METHODS

Blood fractions are aliquoted, heat sealed using novel technology, and stored in 384 tube high-density sample arrays.

RESULTS

The newly developed 384 biobank rack system is especially suited for preserving identical small aliquots. We provide data on robotic processing of clinical samples at -80°C, following initial processing, analysis and shipping between laboratories throughout Europe. Subsequent to unpacking, re-sorting, and storage at these sites, the samples have been returned for analysis. Biomarker analysis of 13 common tests in the clinical chemistry unit of the hospital provides evidence of qualitative and stable logistics using the 384-sample tube system.

CONCLUSIONS

This technology development allows rapid access to a given sample in the frozen archive while maintaining individual sample integrity with sample tube confinement and quality management.

From consent to institutions: designing adaptive governance for genomic biobanks

Biobanks are increasingly hailed as powerful tools to advance health research. The social and ethical challenges associated with the implementation and operation of biobanks are equally well-documented. One of the proposed solutions to these challenges involves trading off a reduction in the specificity of informed consent protocols with an increased emphasis on governance. However, little work has gone into formulating what such governance might look like. In this paper, we suggest four general principles that should inform biobank governance and illustrate the enactment of these principles in a proposed governance model for a particular population-scale biobank, the British Columbia (BC) Generations Project. We begin by outlining four principles that we see as necessary for informing sustainable and effective governance of biobanks: (1) recognition of research participants and publics as a collective body, (2) trustworthiness, (3) adaptive management, and (4) fit between the nature of a particular biobank and the specific structural elements of governance adopted. Using the BC Generations Project as a case study, we then offer as a working model for further discussion the outlines of a proposed governance structure enacting these principles. Ultimately, our goal is to design an adaptive governance approach that can protect participant interests as well as promote effective translational health sciences.

Human tissue biobanks as instruments for drug discovery and development: impact on personalized medicine

In recent years, biobanks of human tissues have evolved from small-scale collections of pathological materials into structured resource centers for acquisition, storage, processing and usage of high-quality biospecimens for research. This evolution goes hand in hand with the development of highly sensitive, high-throughput methods for biomarker discovery. The complexity of the molecular patterns of diseases such as cancer provides multiple opportunities for targeted therapeutic intervention, tailored to suit the particular characteristics of each patient. Developing and evaluating such novel therapies requires access to rigorously designed and well-structured collections of biospecimens. In turn, biobanking infrastructures have a critical impact on the discovery, development and implementation of new drugs for cancer treatment. Therefore, it is essential to harmonize biobanking procedures, and to develop innovative solutions supporting biobank interoperability and specimen sharing, ensuring that new drugs may effectively reach out to the largest possible number of patients.

Biobanks: importance, implications and opportunities for genetic counselors

Biobanks are collections of human biological tissue specimens and related health data. Biobank research hopes to provide novel insights into the genetic component of disease, ultimately leading to a more personalized approach to healthcare. However, biobanks have sparked debate due to the ethical, legal, and social implications surrounding utilization of population samples and data. These controversies include issues of consent, privacy and confidentiality, return of results and data-sharing. This paper provides an overview of the different types and scope of biobanks and an examination of the most pertinent ethical, legal and social considerations surrounding such research, as well as how some of these concerns are being addressed. The paper finishes with a discussion of the relevance of biobanks to the genetic counseling field and concludes that genetic counselors are in a position to make a unique, educated and practical contribution to the ongoing dialogue and direction of biobank research.

Biobanks for genomics and genomics for biobanks

Biobanks include biological samples and attached databases. Human biobanks occur in research, technological development and medical activities. Population genomics is highly dependent on the availability of large biobanks. Ethical issues must be considered: protecting the rights of those people whose samples or data are in biobanks (information, autonomy, confidentiality, protection of private life), assuring the non-commercial use of human body elements and the optimal use of samples and data. They balance other issues, such as protecting the rights of researchers and companies, allowing long-term use of biobanks while detailed information on future uses is not available. At the level of populations, the traditional form of informed consent is challenged. Other dimensions relate to the rights of a group as such, in addition to individual rights. Conditions of return of results and/or benefit to a population need to be defined. With ‘large-scale biobanking’ a marked trend in genomics, new societal dimensions appear, regarding communication, debate, regulation, societal control and valorization of such large biobanks. Exploring how genomics can help health sector biobanks to become more rationally constituted and exploited is an interesting perspective. For example, evaluating how genomic approaches can help in optimizing haematopoietic stem cell donor registries using new markers and high-throughput techniques to increase immunogenetic variability in such registries is a challenge currently being addressed. Ethical issues in such contexts are important, as not only individual decisions or projects are concerned, but also national policies in the international arena and organization of democratic debate about science, medicine and society.

Legal and ethical consequences of international biobanking from a national perspective: the German BMB-EUCoop project

The international transfer of human biomaterial and data has become a prerequisite for collaborative biomedical research to be successful. However, although a national legal framework for 'biobanking' has already been formulated in many countries, little is known about how an international exchange of data and samples might affect the legal position of national biobanks and their donors. The German Telematics Platform and the Competence Network 'Congenital Heart Defects' jointly instigated a project (BMB-EUCoop) to (i) identify and assess the legal risks ensuing for biobanks and their donors in the context of Europe-wide research collaborations, (ii) devise practical recommendations to minimize or avoid these risks, and (iii) provide generic informational text, contracts and agreements to facilitate their practical implementation. Four different countries were included in the study; namely, the UK, Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. The results of the study indicate that the degree of similarity between legal systems in different countries varies according to the respective field of jurisdiction. Although personality and property rights have long been enshrined in virtually identical pieces of law, the applicable medical professional regulations were found to be somewhat heterogeneous. Furthermore, clear-cut differences were often found to be lacking between regulations that reflect either 'soft law' or the nationally binding 'hard law' that has emerged from it. In view of the potential ambiguities, the experts uniformly concluded that the rights and interests of national (in this case, German) biobanks and their donors would be best protected by explicitly addressing any uncertainties in formal contractual agreements.

CQ Sources/Bibliography

These CQ Sources were compiled by Bette Anton.

Ethical, legal, and social implications of biobanks for genetics research

The elucidation of the causes of complex diseases pivots on understanding the interaction between biological (genetic) and environmental factors that give rise to disease risk. The modest effects of genetic factors in complex diseases supports the need for large-scale studies of high-quality human biological materials, paired with detailed clinical data, to adequately detect these effects. To this end, biobanks or biorepositories have been developed around the world, by public and private entities alike, to provide researchers the opportunity to study collections of human biospecimens annotated with clinical and other health-related measurements. It has been estimated that more than 270 million tissue samples are stored in the U.S., expanding at a rate of approximately 20 million samples annually. In this chapter, we discuss several ethical, legal, and social issues that have been raised surrounding biobanks, including recruitment of vulnerable populations, informed consent, data disclosure to participants, intellectual property, and privacy and security. Throughout the chapter, we will highlight experiences of national biobanks in Iceland, the U.K., Sweden, and Estonia, and the proposal for a U.S. population cohort study. The dependence on public participation requires clear and transparent policies developed through inclusive processes.

Comparative genomics for detecting human disease genes

Originally, comparative genomics was geared toward defining the synteny of genes between species. As the human genome project accelerated, there was an increase in the number of tools and means to make comparisons culminating in having the genomic sequence for a large number of organisms spanning the evolutionary tree. With this level of resolution and a long history of comparative biology and comparative genetics, it is now possible to use comparative genomics to build or select better animal models and to facilitate gene discovery. Comparative genomics takes advantage of the functional genetic information from other organisms, (vertebrates and invertebrates), to apply it to the study of human physiology and disease. It allows for the identification of genes and regulatory regions, and for acquiring knowledge about gene function. In this chapter, the current state of comparative genomics and the available tools are discussed in the context of developing animal model systems that reflect the clinical picture.

Ethical, legal, and social issues related to genomics and cancer research: the impending crisis

Cancer research is a multibillion-dollar enterprise validated by the clinical trial process and increasingly defined by genomics. The continued success of the endeavor depends on the smooth functioning of the clinical trial system, which in turn depends on human subject participation. Yet human subject participation can exist only in an atmosphere of trust between research participants and research sponsors, and the advent of genomics has raised a multitude of ethical, legal, and social issues that threaten this trust. The authors examine 6 of these issues: (1) informed consent; (2) privacy, confidentiality, and family disclosure dilemmas; (3) property rights in genomic discoveries; (4) individual and institutional conflicts of interest; (5) insurance and employment issues; and (6) litigation under the federal False Claims Act. The authors conclude that failure to resolve these issues may lead to a sufficient impairment of trust in genomics-based clinical trials on the part of potential research participants that the clinical trial system may implode for lack of willing participants, thus threatening the future of cancer research.

Legal Aspects of Tissue Banking

There exists no clear national or international consensus in key issues of tissue banking. This holds especially true for the fundamental concept of informed consent. During recent years, the harmonization of norms needed for international collaboration has made crucial progress solely in Europe, namely through legal framing. The norms relating to tissue banking are, however, under permanent construction not only in Europe but throughout the world. Consequently, anybody involved in tissue banking is well advised to observe the evolution of the legal and regulatory environment in the particular jurisdiction.

A biobank management model applicable to biomedical research

Background

The work of Research Ethics Boards (REBs), especially when involving genetics research and biobanks, has become more challenging with the growth of biotechnology and biomedical research. Some REBs have even rejected research projects where the use of a biobank with coded samples was an integral part of the study, the greatest fear being the lack of participant protection and uncontrolled use of biological samples or related genetic data. The risks of discrimination and stigmatization are a recurrent issue. In light of the increasing interest in biomedical research and the resulting benefits to the health of participants, it is imperative that practical solutions be found to the problems associated with the management of biobanks: namely, protecting the integrity of the research participants, as well as guaranteeing the security and confidentiality of the participant's information.

Methods

We aimed to devise a practical and efficient model for the management of biobanks in biomedical research where a medical archivist plays the pivotal role as a data-protection officer. The model had to reduce the burden placed on REBs responsible for the evaluation of genetics projects and, at the same time, maximize the protection of research participants.

Results

The proposed model includes the following: 1) a means of protecting the information in biobanks, 2) offers ways to provide follow-up information requested about the participants, 3) protects the participant's confidentiality and 4) adequately deals with the ethical issues at stake in biobanking.

Conclusion

Until a governmental governance body is established in Quebec to guarantee the protection of research participants and establish harmonized guidelines for the management of biobanks in medical research, it is definitely up to REBs to find solutions that the present lack of guidelines poses. The model presented in this article offers a practical solution on a day-to-day basis for REBs, as well as researchers by promoting an archivist to a pivotal role in the process. It assures protection of all participants who altruistically donate their samples to generate and improve knowledge for better diagnosis and medical treatment.

Cyberbanks and other virtual research repositories

Few things seem more a part of the material world than biological specimens. Yet the processes by which collections of specimens are assembled, translated into information, combined with more information, and distributed are taking research repositories into the virtual realm.

The term “virtual” has a number of meanings, and so a research repository can qualify as virtual in a variety of ways. The term would seem to apply, for example, to (1) constructing a repository by forming a network among institutions; (2) using the Internet or the World Wide Web to solicit specimens and information; (3) integrating web-based technology into the operation of the bank; (4) using the Internet or web-based technology to manage relationships with donors or collection sites and recipients; and (5) digitizing specimens. The all-digital repository would seem the most virtual of all possible repositories, a true cyberbank.

The social and ethical issues of post-genomic human biobanks

Biobanking - the organized collection of biological samples and associated data - ranges in scope from small collections of samples in academic or hospital settings to large-scale national repositories. Biobanks raise many ethical concerns, to which authorities are responding by introducing specific regulations. Genomics research, which thrives on the sharing of samples and information, is affected by two prominent ethical questions: do ethical principles prevent or promote the sharing of stored biological resources? How does the advent of large-scale biobanking alter the way in which ethical issues are addressed?