One of our primary goals has been to compete for grants to originate important work on the societal implications of the life sciences.  We are gratified that both NIH and NSF are supporting our research.

Emerging Problems in Neurogenomics: Ethical, Legal & Policy Issues at the Intersection of Genomics & Neuroscience
Sponsor: The Greenwall Foundation
Award: Presidential Grant
Project Dates: 11/21/07 to 5/31/08
Principal Investigator: Prof. Susan M. Wolf
Co-Principal Investigators: Harry Orr, Ph.D., Tulloch Professor of Genetics and Director of Institute for Translational Neuroscience and the Institute of Human Genetics, and Jordan Paradise, J.D., Associate Director of Research & Education at the Consortium.
Award Amount: $25,000

This award helped fund a project on "Emerging Problems in Neurogenomics: Ethical, Legal & Policy Issues at the Intersection of Genomics & Neuroscience" involving top experts from around the country. The project featured a day-long public conference on 2/29/08 exploring issues in neurogenomics (co-funded by the Academic Health Center, ITN, and the Consortium), a published symposium to follow, and preparation of a follow-on proposal to NIH.

NIRT: Evaluating Oversight Models for Active Nanostructures and Nanosystems: Learning from Past Technologies in a Societal Context
Website: http://lifesci.consortium.umn.edu/nirt
Sponsor: NSF
Award # : SES-0608791
Project Dates: 9/1/06 to 8/31/10
Principal Investigator: Prof. Susan M. Wolf
Co-Principal Investigators: Prof. Efrosini Kokkoli, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science; Prof. Jennifer Kuzma, Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy; Jordan Paradise, Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences; Prof. Gurumurthy Ramachandran, Environmental Health Services.
Award Amount: $1,220,765

This project aimed to identify oversight models for nanotechnology by assessing 6 historical oversight models: for drugs, devices, gene transfer, genetically engineered organisms in the food supply, chemicals in the workplace, and chemicals in the environment. The project brought together a multidisciplinary group of Investigators and senior personnel from the University of Minnesota, with strengths in nanotechnology research and development, public policy, law, health, environment, economics, and bioethics and involves outside collaborators representing a range of perspectives. The project team evaluated oversight models using a historical and comparative approach and integrated findings to glean lessons for emerging applications of nanotechnology.

Project outcomes include:

• publication of individually authored papers analyzing the 6 historical oversight models
  
• publication of comparative work examining oversight models across the 6 models
  
• publication of a group-authored consensus paper on lessons for nanotechnology oversight
  
• wide dissemination of policy analysis and normative oversight recommendations through hard-copy and web-based resources
  
• a public conference hosted at the University of Minnesota to present papers and seek public feedback
  
• presentation of project work by Investigators at outside conferences

A workshop series was developed as a course option for both undergraduates and graduate students within the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, with cross-registration from the Law School and other programs. The PIs worked to link this project with science education needs in the K-12 community.

Managing Incidental Findings in Human Subjects Research
Website: http://lifesci.consortium.umn.edu/incidentalfindings/
Sponsor: NIH/NHGRI
Award #: 1 R01 HG003178-01A1
Project Dates: 9/26/05 to 7/31/07
Principal Investigator: Prof. Susan M. Wolf
Co-Investigators: Adjunct Assoc. Prof. Jordan Paradise; Prof. Jeffrey Kahn, Center for Bioethics; Prof. Frances Lawrenz, Department of Educational Psychology; Prof. Charles Nelson, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard University.
Award Amount: $587,559

This project, led by researchers in the University of Minnesota's Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences, collaborating with a Working Group of prominent national scholars, tackled how researchers should handle incidental findings identified during research. Incidental findings are defined as unexpected findings beyond the domain of key interest in the research that have potential clinical significance, such as a suspicious mass revealed in a functional MRI (fMRI) study or an incidental finding of nonpaternity in genetic research. What should consent forms say about this and how should IRBs consider the potential for incidental findings in their review of protocols?

Project outcomes include:

• publication of the empirical analysis
  
• publication of the consensus report
  
• a conference presenting our empirical and normative work
  
• papers on incidental findings management in 4 targeted research areas and analysis of the legal implications of incidental findings
  
• a published symposium in a prominent journal collecting the empirical and narrative reports and the targeted papers
  
• a website offering useful tools with web links.
  

Colliding Categories: Haplotypes, Race & Ethnicity
Sponsor: National Human Genome Research Institute
Project Dates: 7/01/03 - 7/01/04

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jonathan D. Kahn
Co-Investigators: Prof. Jeffrey Kahn, Prof. Susan Wolf
Award Amount: $564,300

This project explored the impending collision between biological and regulatory classifications of population subgroups in American society. We focused on the interaction between biological categories emerging from the effort to create a haplotype map of the human genome and preexisting categories specifying race and ethnicity embodied in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget's Directive 15, which governs collection of data by all federal agencies and in federally funded research. This project involved an eminent national group of scholars including: Profs. Troy Duster PhD, (New York University and University of California, Berkeley); Phyllis Griffin Epps, JD (University of Houston); Evelynn Hammonds, PhD (Harvard University); Jonathan Marks, PhD (University of North Carolina, Charlotte); Michael Omi, PhD (University of California, Berkeley); Kim Fortun, PhD (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); Dorothy Roberts, JD (Northwestern University); and Charmaine Royal, PhD (Howard University); and University of Minnesota Profs. Donna Arnett, PhD; Rose Brewer, PhD; Colin Campbell, PhD; Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH; Vivek Kapur, PhD; Harry Orr, PhD; William Toscano, PhD; and Susan Wolf, JD.

Genetics & Disability Insurance: Ethics, Law & Policy
Sponsor: National Human Genome Research Institute
Project Dates: 7/01/00 - 12/31/03
Principal Investigator: Prof. Jeffrey Kahn
Co-Investigators: Prof. Susan Wolf, Dr. Dianne Bartels
Award Amount: $413,912

This grant was awarded to the Center for Bioethics and Joint Degree Program in Law, Health & the Life Sciences to complete a comprehensive investigation of the ethical, legal, and policy issues in the use of genetic information in private and public disability insurance and to recommend policies based on the findings.