Bioética

Member (s) of the Ethics Working Group: Maggie Little, BPhil, PhD. Director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown. Florencia Luna, PhD. Director of Bioethics Program, FLACSO, Argentina.

Funded by: Wellcome Trust. Winning project, Global Forum Scholarship on Bioethics in Research, GFBR. WT Reference Number 206474/Z/17/Z

Duration of project: April – November, 2017

OBJECTIVES

The general objective of this project is to contribute to the reduction of the Know-Do gap in “Ethics of Research in pregnancy” – by means of the development of Open Educational Resources (OER) – as a key challenge for Public Health.

Among the specific objectives the proposal includes: Design, development and spreading of 15 Open Educational Resources (five in English, ten in Spanish such as: brief reports, Power Point presentations, case studies, tasks, commentaries in a BLOG designed specifically to the project’s purpose, interviews), to be shared as global public goods in local contexts and between countries, for the purpose of contributing to the development of new competences and to the construction of abilities within the subject of “Ethics of Research in pregnancy”. As an additional purpose, it is desirable to discover –once the OER have been developed and spread- what use had they been assigned to, its audience and the level of satisfaction achieved due to its usage. This feedback will be a key element for the evaluation of the OER and for the project as a whole, and also, to make improvements that could justify the possible replication of the proposal.

Pregnancy, Research and Public Health Emergencies: Zika and Beyond.

Directors: Ruth Faden and Margaret Little

Members of the Assistant Committee: Dr. Florencia Luna, a multi-year project funded by the Wellcome Trust that seeks to develop concrete, actionable, consensus-driven guidance for conducting ethically responsible biomedical research with pregnant women in the context of public health emergencies.

Funding agency: Wellcome Trust

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this project is to develop concrete ethical guidelines for biomedical research in pregnant women in the context of emergencies in public health –initially focused on the research for a vaccine against Zika virus. It is a multidisciplinary approach which includes a team of lawyers, philosophers, public health specialists, bioethicists, obstetricians, historians, together with a team of advisors from USA and Latin-America, specialized in maternal-fetal medicine, research of vaccines and maternal immunity. These guides will be developed by researchers and in accordance with experts to ensure that they will be:

According to the activities of research and development proposed;
Developed with the best scientific and medical evidence available;
Relevant as a realistic response of public health in social and cultural contexts in those areas where the epidemic has been more severe.

For more information you can visit the project’s web page here

Ethics Working Group en HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN).

Director: Jeremy Sugarman. Member since July, 2014: Florencia Luna (Participation and advice regarding global ethical problems of different AIDS prevention trials)

OBJECTIVE

The HIV Prevention Trails Network (HPTN) has the mission of doing research on HIV prevention with the higher scientific and ethical standards. To reach this objective, HPTN Ethics Working Group (EWG) works with the team that develops protocols to ensure the necessary attention and revision of ethical aspects in the development process of HPTN concepts, protocols and manuscripts.

HPTN Ethics Working Group (EWG) includes experts within the field of ethics in research and the HPTN team. The EWG offers practical recommendations as well as an analysis to the teams developing protocols. It is available to evaluate thoroughly all the proposals, to work with the Behavioral and Social Sciences Working Group. It includes the gathering of descriptive data and the evaluation of ethical efficiency. It works as a source of information and material for the practice of research ethics, and also includes the possibility to work as intermediary with other entities/networks that do HIV prevention research.

The EWG also provides guides and strategies to strengthen ethical abilities in research sites, with special focus on potential participants’ comprehension of informed consent. The project’s specific objectives are: to provide an ethical analysis of concepts and protocols; to provide HPTN with expertise and technical assistance for the implementation of the components of the Ethical Guide for Research, including, for example, training in research ethics and encouraging the training of research teams and community groups to improve the processes of informed consent.

For more information you can visit the project’s web page here

Ethical problems in stem cells research and therapy in Argentina.

Funding Agency: Proyectos de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (PICT) 2008

Responsable researcher: Dra. Florencia Luna. Researcher of the main responsable team: Dra. Arleen L. F. Salles Researchers of the collaborating team: Dra. Amaicha Mara Depino, Dr. Gustavo Kusminsky y Dra. María Florencia Santi Becaria: Lic. Julieta Arosteguy. Duración: 2010- 2012

Obligations during and after biomedical researches: vulnerability, access to new treatments and intellectual property.

Funding agency: CONICET: Proyectos de Investigación Plurianuales (PIP: 112-200801-01835)

Researchers:

PI: Dra. Florencia Luna. Co-PI: Dr. Eduardo Rivera López. Researchers: Prof. María Florencia Santi, Lic. Julieta Manterola, Prof. Ignacio Mastroleo, Prof. Sol Terlizzi, Lic. Julieta Arosteguy.