Sharing is Caring: Are you ready for the NIH’s Data Management & Sharing Policy? Part 1

diverse women stacking hands on wooden table
In January of next year, the NIH’s Data Management & Sharing (DMS) Policy goes into effect. About a month ago, the NIH blog Under the Poliscope provided an update on DMS Policy implementation. What is it and how will it affect your research?

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Education Round-up: October 2021

As a service to our research community, we periodically share upcoming non-Ohio State events, webinars, and workshops that may be of interest to human subjects researchers, research staff, and IRB members.

This month’s round-up includes events on a wide variety of topics, such as assessing participants’ decision-making capacity, ethical considerations for the return of research results and incidental findings, legal issues and ownership of genetic material, single IRB arrangements for behavioral and social science research, and much more. All events are free or low-cost and open to the public but may require pre-registration.

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What we’re reading: September 2021

Man Using Laptop on Table Against White Background
With the exception of OHRP’s 4th Annual Exploratory Workshop on third-party research risks–which we encourage you to attend!–there weren’t many external education sessions this month. So, in lieu of an Education Round-up, we’re sharing recent articles and opinion pieces that our research community may find interesting.

We’ll return with an October Education Round-Up later this month! In the meantime, check out upcoming events from Ohio State centers, such as the Center for Ethics & Human Values, the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, or our Human Subjects Research 101 session for social- and behavioral-focused researchers.
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The Feds Want (to hear from) YOU!

Uncle Sam pointingWhen we think of practicing citizenship, we often think about exercising the right to vote and calling our representatives. But did you know the federal government regularly seeks public comments about specific topics and rules that are under consideration?

 

Both NIH and FDA currently are currently seeking comments on topics of interest to the human subjects research community. Share your thoughts on informed consent language that fosters participant data and specimen sharing, leveraging existing data to advance pediatric drug development, and more.
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Re-post: Minding the (db)GaP: Age of Majority and the NIH’s GDS Policy

The National Institutes of Health Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy recognizes participants’ informed consent as integral to responsible sharing of genomic data, stating that consent processes must “explicitly discuss future research use and broad data sharing, even if the data are generated from specimens that are de-identified” before such information may be deposited in publicly available databases. Minors are unable to legally consent, however, and parental permission is valid only until the child turns 18. Do researchers have an ethical obligation to re-contact of-age participants to obtain consent, perhaps years after their genetic data was collected?

 

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Re-post: Less (Tissue) is More (Complicated): Rethinking Research Involving Archival Specimens

photo-of-person-using-magnifying-glass-while-holding-a-glass-4149041.jpgDemand for archival tissue for both clinical care and research is growing, especially in the field of precision medicine. But advancements in diagnostic and sampling procedures have reduced the supply of leftover specimens available for research use — raising ethical questions for investigators, patient-participants, and IRBs.

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