Transcript Why RCR? - Howard University

Why RCR?
Responsible Conduct of Research Workshop
Howard University
October 24, 2011
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What is Responsible Conduct of
Research (RCR)?
o Guidelines and Regulations
o Plagiarism
o Institutional Review Board (IRB) / Human and Animal Subjects
o Ethical Reasoning / Conflict of Interest
o Data Management
o Authorship and Publication Practices / Collaborative Research
o Mentorship
o Informed Consent
o Intellectual Property
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Why is RCR Important?
• Federal Regulations
• University Policies
• Best Practices
• Legal and Ethical Consequences of Noncompliance
– University
– Business
– Individual
– Society
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What’s the right thing to do?
 Examples to consider
 Michael Sandel, Justice
 Henrietta Lacks and “Immortal Cells”
 “Quick and Dirty” Dissertation
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Michael Sandel, Justice
 Professor of Philosophy at Harvard whose book and PBS
series, asks:
 If you had to choose between (1) killing one person to save
the lives of five others and (2) doing nothing even though you
knew that five people would die if you did nothing—what
would you do? What would be the right thing to do?
 This is an extreme example, and one for which there is no
“right” answer. But it captures the moral dilemma that we
sometimes face in less stark terms.
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Henrietta Lacks and
“Immortal Cells”
 February 1, 1951, Baltimore resident Henrietta
Lacks diagnosed with cervical cancer at Johns
Hopkins University Hospital
 February 9, 1951, radium treatment begun; another
tissue sample taken and given to
Dr. George Gey, head of tissue culture research at
JHUH
 Within days, Henrietta Lacks’s cancer cells had
multiplied “like nothing anyone had seen”. They
were “immortal” and Dr. Gey eventually shared them
with research colleagues around the world--and
beyond.
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Henrietta Lacks and
“Immortal Cells”
 October 4, 1951, Henrietta Lacks died at JHU
Hospital; she was 31 years old
 October 4, 1951, Dr. George Gey appeared on
national television and displayed a vial of “HeLa” cells
and discussed the possibility that research could find
a cure for cancer
 1975, Henrietta’s daughter-in-law learned from
someone who “worked with them” in a Washington,
DC laboratory that the cells were still alive
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Henrietta Lacks and
“Immortal Cells”
 HeLa cells had become standard reference cells and
used in research that led to Salk polio vaccine in
1950s.
Henrietta Lacks and
“Immortal Cells”
Have been used in cancer research, study of HIV-AIDS,
the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene
mapping, and many other investigations
Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,
Random House (2010)
http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/0400web/01.html
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Henrietta Lacks and
“Immortal Cells”
Moral and Ethical Issues
 Informed Consent
Not uncommon at the time that researchers did not inform
subjects or patients about the nature of their investigations,
or (as in the Tuskegee experiment), of their potential
consequences.
Guidelines and regulations have been established to assure
informed consent.
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Henrietta Lacks and
“Immortal Cells”
Moral and Ethical Issues
 Compensation
What is morally or legally due to a person (or their
estate) if something of commercial value is
developed from their cells?
Unresolved issue being debated now by medical
ethicists.
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Henrietta Lacks and
“Immortal Cells”
Does it matter that Henrietta Lacks was an African
American woman of modest means, many of whose
family members today lack health insurance?
“Quick and Dirty” Dissertation
Plagiarism is a real problem with real consequences in
scientific research, for students, faculty, and professionals
 An outstanding Howard student submitted their
application for oral defense of dissertation to the Graduate
School
 Subsequently student’s department asked that the defense
be postponed pending an investigation
 Investigation found student copied substantial portions of
the dissertation from student at another university without
their knowledge
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“Quick and Dirty” Dissertation
 Confronted with the facts the student confessed and
expressed regret
 The student’s advisor, committee, and departmental graduate
faculty requested that the student be dismissed from the
Graduate School
 The student was dismissed and notified that he cannot return
to graduate study at Howard University
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Why is RCR Important?
 Legal and Ethical Consequences of Noncompliance
 University
 Business
 Individual
 Society
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Thank you!
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