Four of the nation?s leading biomedical research institutions have announced the formation of the San Diego Research Ethics Consortium, a multi-institution core resource to support the ethical conduct of science in stem cell and other research programs.
The four San Diego institutions ? The Burnham Institute for Medical Research, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) ? have established a joint program for ethics teaching, outreach and review of stem cell research as well as other areas of science and technology.
?This is a unique program that provides not only shared resources, but the collective experience and judgment of four pre-eminent research institutions,? said Michael Kalichman, Ph.D., director of the UCSD Research Ethics Program and the founding director of the San Diego Research Ethics Consortium. He noted that there are few models of such joint ethics programs among other major research institutions in the country.
?This joint program provides a model for what other people and institutions can and should do,? said UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
The San Diego Research Ethics Consortium will complement the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine’s inter-institutional training program for recipients of training grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which began in January. Nearly one-third of the training program covers stem cell ethics, which is being taught by Mary Devereaux, Ph.D., a bioethicist with the UCSD Research Ethics Program. CIRM was established to implement Prop. 71, the California Stem Cell and Cures Initiative, which was passed into law by citizens of California in November 2004.
The institutions are stressing that ethics is an integral part of stem cell research, not just an add-on. “Review of research involving the derivation of pluripotent human stem cells is not only a regulatory obligation, but an ethical obligation,? said Devereaux.
?We have a responsibility to the taxpayers and citizens everywhere, but particularly here in California,? said Devereaux. ?Conducting stem cell research is a privilege. The citizens of California have given us the resources. It is our duty to use the resources responsibly and according the highest scientific and ethical standards.”