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A recent analysis of clinical trials showed that researchers routinely ignored previously published and relevant clinical trials when conducting their own studies.
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IRBs sometimes balk at studies that ask sensitive questions about topics such as sex and violence, based on concerns that participants may find them distressing.
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The state of Michigan has moved forward with its plan to store blood samples left over from screening newborns for medical conditions in a biorepository that will make the deidentified samples available for research.
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Investigators, particularly when they are new to human subjects research, often fail to include all necessary information in their IRB applications because they are unaware of what's required.
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The new edition of a widely-used human subjects protection curriculum has an increased emphasis on community engagement and the importance of on-going informed consent, says one of its developers.
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Successful IRB members are developed, not born, according to an expert in research ethics.
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Many IRB offices have transitioned to completely electronic documentation and processes in recent years. This trend offers flexibility to IRB staffing and office space.
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As Washington University in St. Louis, MO, expanded its interest in community-engaged research (CEnR), officials realized that both the researchers and their community partners needed to better understand human subjects protection requirements.
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A presidential commission has begun carrying out President Barack Obama's charge to review human subjects protections in U.S.-sponsored research both here and abroad, in the wake of revelations about unethical research carried out in Guatemala in the 1940s.
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IRBs continue to work toward streamlining the handling of multisite studies through alternative models of review. But they can sometimes struggle with a process that requires them to accept the review of another board in place of their own.