Exploring the ELSI universe critical issues in the evolution of human genomic research.docVIP

Oliver and McGuire Genome Medicine 2011, 3:38 /content/3/6/38 MEE TING REPORT Exploring the ELSI Universe: critical issues in the evolution of human genomic research Jill M Oliver and Amy L McGuire* and implementation of research governance and over- Abstract sight. Jane Kaye (University of Oxford, UK) presented a A report on the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Research Program 2011 Congress,‘Exploring the ELSI Universe’, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, 12-14 April 2011. pioneering vision of a future in which research governance and oversight should be aligned with how research is now being conducted in global networks (no longer one research project, by one researcher, in one Keywords: Empirical research, ethics, genomic research jurisdiction). As part of this change, she advocated a move towards coordinated, global, non-duplicative e?orts to advance ELSI research using the same approach e 2011 Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) and scale as the Human Genome Project (see http:// Congress, ‘Exploring the ELSI Universe’, hosted by the www.publichealth.ox.ac.uk/helex/ for more information Center for Genomics and Society in Chapel Hill, kicked on the Global ELSI Initiative). Employing information o? with an inspiring introduction by Eric Green technology (IT) innovations was also advocated by Malia (Director, National Human Genome Research Institute Fullerton (University of Washington, USA) who ex- (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health, USA) who outlined the place of ELSI research in the NHGRI’s new strategic plan. e 3-day interdisciplinary meeting, which was attended by hundreds from many di?erent countries, plained how these strategies can provide mechanisms to engage participants while promoting transparency of gover