L6:L6: ETHICS IN NEUROSCIENCE Flashcards
ANIMAL RESEARCH
Very rigid regulations
Replacement, refine and reduce
Registered by the home office, have to apply for a licence that lasts 5 years- 200 page documents, explaining every research and procedure want to do over the next 5 years
Can only do if Uni has an establishment licence
Animal (scientific procedure) Act 1986
AWERB
Animal Welfare and ethical review body
PAAC1 AND 2
Procedures on animals assessment committee – reviews project license applications before they go to the Home office.
3RS COMMITTEE
overseas mid term reviews of grants and promotes good practice, Replace animals
Minimise number of animals use
Minimise suffering
BSMB
Biological services management board –
Ensures compliance with law, charges for animals, looking at the current and future estate.
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
rapidly replaces existing thing
Crispr-CAS9 technology
Allows selective alterations to parts of DNA in the genome
Could revolutionise way treat genetics
China- tried to use to stop 2 children being born with HIV
OPTOGENTICS
Can place opsins into any cell in brain, shine a blue light and activate it
Using to treat Alzheimer’s or Focal cortical epilepsy
Issue is that to get it into brain it is packaged into Adenoviruses
Don’t know the long term effects of injecting virus into brain
BRAIN initiative
USA, $4.5 bill over 10 years
Prioritises ethics
human brain project
EU, 1 bill euros
Ethics is prioritised
HOW TO DEAL WITH COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT
equal access to schools
Focus on neurological disorders
CONSENT
Clear guidelines, make sure patients have legally authorised representatives who can speak for them
LEGAL SYSTEM
Rely too much in courts if take as unequivocally true, and if general public is better educated on workings of the brain
AI
humans cant compete
DRIVERLESS TECHNOLOGY
MIT moral machine
RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE ETHICS ARE ADHERED TO
International- EU
National- Gov, UK research and innovation
Specific body- medical research council
High design standard
Maintain dignity, rights and safety
Transparency and honesty
Keep research open
Russell group Unis
Institutions
Individual: Investigator, research scientist, student
7 STANDARDS
Act with skill and care
Prevent corrupt practice and declare conflict of interest
COI
Financial- e.g. if you had shares in company
Professional
Personal
Prejudicial
Respect and acknowledge work of others
Ensure research is justified and lawful
Minimise impacts on people, animals and environment
Discuss issues science raises for society
Do not mislead
SCIENTIFIC MALPRACTICE
Fabrication- MMR vaccines to autism study by Andrew Wakefield in 1998
Falsification
Plagiarism
Confidentiality- e.g. lab member leaking all results to competing lab
Failure to acknowledge significant contribution: e.g. Rosalind Franklin large contribution to the structure of DNA, Watson and Crick looked and reports and she never got Nobel prize
PRESSURES TO BE BAD
Professional competition: getting paper into top journal can launch career
Retraction up, the better the journal the more times an author has to retract results- pressure of getting it out affecting the quality
Replication down
Commercial pressures
Maximise course fees- labs have incentive to take on lots of students to produce more research
Increase pressure on staff to get external funding
Bias
