Week 5 Article Questions Flashcards
What is biopiracy? Define the term.
Provide 2 examples from the article.
Biopiracy is the exploitation of genetic material, especially from Indigenous or developing communities.
Karitiana Tribe in Brazil: Scientists collected samples from the tribe for “research” and sold the samples and did not compensate the tribe in anyway.
Samoan Gene Patent: Researchers created an obesity risk test using Samoan genes but failed to share profits nor acknowledge the partnership with the Samoan collaborators
What is a biobank? Define the term.
Discuss 2 factors that make it difficult to create biobanks for medical research.
Biobanks are places that take and store biological/genetic information from people to be used for studies.
- constant changing and overall disarray of US citizens’ insurers and medical plans, making it difficult to review an individual’s medical records at all.
- lack of genome sequencing machines to conduct DNA sequencing
Variant Bio is named after gene variants. What is a gene variant, in the context of medical research?
Explain why studying Indigenous or isolated communities can be particularly informative to medical research.
A gene variant is a variation in a gene’s DNA sequence that may impact the gene’s regulation or function
Indigenous or isolated communities have distinct gene variations as their isolation retains their individual culture and customs. These traditions are environmental and lifestyle factors that can arise specific variations which may be preserved due to their segregation.
How is Variant creating value for Indigenous communities that share their genetic data to contribute to research?
Name two specific ways.
Part of Variant Bio’s mission is to acknowledge Indigenous communities by giving them unique benefits as well as deserved credit for their contribution
- Did not patent thier genes, but rather patented the drugs they created from the use of the genes
- Gave portions of their income to participating communities.
One of Bio Variant’s positions is a promise not to patent genes, but only drugs that emerge from research based on genes. Why is this distinction important?
What are the risks of patenting genes, in terms of future medical research?
To patent the genes means to have full exclusive right to prevent others from using, selling or making their own products of the genes.
Patenting genes would slow down medical research, as other studies would not be permitted to genes that may have a significant impact. It can create barriers around performing research based on collaborative knowledge.
