Since the Family Genomics group works with data from human subjects, it is important to understand the necessary protocol. As a result, during the first week of our internship, Christina and Karla took a course in Human Subjects and received a certificate in Protecting Human Research Participants.
Handling human subjects is much more sensitive than other areas of research, and specific ethical standards are essential. Through the training, we became familiar with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and its role in scientific institutions. We learned in what ways human research participants must be informed prior to a study, how researchers must be approved by the IRB, and how information regarding human subjects must be kept confidential.
To better understand the IRB, we also met and talked with Chris Witwer. As the Compliance Manager of Institute for Systems Biology, she represents the IRB and ensures that research is conducted in an ethical and respectful manner.
