Collaborative Research: Genomics & Society - Exploring ethics, impacts and consequences of technological advances

合作研究：基因组学与社会-探索技术进步的伦理、影响和后果。开发基因组学技术的科学家和工程师必须解决基因组学研究过程中的关键伦理问题，基因组学研究中的社会角色，并仔细反映新技术对不同社会群体、经济部门、社区、动物和环境的有意和无意的影响。该项目开发了一个研究生伦理教育计划，将基因组学和基因组学技术的进步作为一个团队授课、基于案例的模块化课程的中心主题，以促进学生理解和仔细思考这些进步所带来的社会和伦理问题的能力。这门课程不仅考虑了已被接受的技术的下游后果，还重点讨论了技术的形成，以及关于是否使用它们的原则上的决定。这种方法在考虑与基因组学和基因组学技术相关的广泛的伦理和社会问题方面是创新的，这些问题远远超出了健康或特定的学科主题，将跨学科、批判性思维和价值观意识与基因组学科学结合起来，探索一系列相互关联的社会和伦理问题，涵盖人类健康和隐私、正义、农业、动物和环境。特别是，本课程提出了关于人类/动物/环境边界的关键问题，涉及人类、动物和环境健康之间的关系，以及对不同种类的生物（包括但不限于人类）采取各种做法的可容许性。这些问题不可避免地让学生接触到不同的观点和相互竞争的观点；讨论和评估任务旨在帮助他们对这些问题做出平衡、深思熟虑和知情的判断。该课程由德克萨斯农工大学（TAMU）开发，并在大学城的校园里为来自不同学科的学生开设。在第二学年，该课程也将通过德克萨斯农工大学科珀斯克里斯蒂分校（TAMUCC）和博伊西州立大学的电子学习和文本资源进行介绍。

Collaborative Research: Genomics & Society - Exploring ethics, impacts and consequences of technological advances.Scientists and engineers who develop genomics technology must address key ethical questions about the process of genomics research, the role of society in genomics research, and carefully reflect about the intended and unintended implications of new technology for different social groups, economic sectors, communities, animals and the environment. This project develops a graduate ethics education program that uses advances in genomics and genomics technology as a central theme in a team-taught, case-based, modular course to facilitate students' ability to understand and think carefully and critically about social and ethical questions raised by these advances. This course considers more than the downstream consequences of accepted technologies by placing importance on discussion of the formation of technologies, as well as on the in-principle decisions about whether to use them at all.This approach is innovative in considering a broad spectrum of ethical and societal issues related to genomics and genomics technologies that goes far beyond health or specific disciplinary topics to bring interdisciplinarity, critical thinking and values awareness together with genomics science to explore a range of interconnected social and ethical issues spanning human health and privacy, justice, agriculture, animals, and the environment. In particular the course raises critical questions at the human/animal/environment boundary, concerning the relationships between human, animal and environmental health, and the permissibility of various practices on different kinds of living beings including, but not restricted to humans. These questions inevitably expose students to diverse perspectives and competing ideas; and the discussions and assessment tasks are geared to help them make balanced, thoughtful, and informed judgments about these questions. The course is being developed at Texas A&M University (TAMU), and presented on campus in College Station for students from a variety of disciplines. During year 2, the course is also being presented via e-learning and textual resources at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) and Boise State University.