Pharmacogenomics: Using DNA to Save Lives
Interview with a Biotech Researcher
Sydney Wyatt, member of the Bruce Draper Lab at U.C. Davis University, is a researcher and scientist currently studying gonad development in zebra fish. She has a degree in intergrated genetics and a genomics degree.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Sydney and am honored to present some information from our interview on my website. Interview Conducted on 1 March 2019.
Ethics:
"Just because you have a gene does not mean you know the person."
While there are human samples, many steps are used to protect the privacy of the individual. For example, there is "HIPPA training (Medical Code of conduct that everyone in medical careers need to perform), each member of the research team is held to a standard of respect and confidentiality." There are also "numbered samples or blind sample" and "some information is given to researchers but only those based on the study."
There are other steps to protect an individual. There are "institutional review boards" that insure proper conduct.
In conclusion, it is "really hard to know a person's data."
More about Personal Patient Protection
Like a lot of companies different people do different processes; Research works the same way. Some people have "computer access" and others have the key that identifies which sample belongs to each person, but one person does not have access to all the information. "There are so many steps" allowing patients to be protected that it would be near impossible to know which sample belongs to which person.
In any study, patients give consent to use their examples. Patients are allowed to remove their samples and their participation in a study at any time. Their samples will, also, be destroyed.
Why is this important?
Understanding patient protection allows for a clearer understanding of ethics in science, pharmacy, and genetics. While the lab may be different than the field of pharmacogenomics, ethics and standard procedures have similar processes in both fields.
