Inmaculada De Melo-Martin
Stanford University, CA·Social Science
Scientists are beginning to study the human virome, the full set of viruses that live in and on people. This research raises ethical questions about consent, trust and fairness, especially for communities that have often been treated poorly in past research.
- Fields
Social Science
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
bioethics
research ethics
ethical legal and social implications
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2030
What they work on
- Analyze the ethical meanings and practices of human virome research in clinical and public health settings through normative analysis, coordinated across the VAST Center's cores.
- Identify factors that support or undermine trust, equality and respect in virome research, using focus groups with virome scientists, lay public members and members of Indigenous Sovereign Nations.
- Co-develop best-practice guidelines and consent materials that help researchers, counselors and clinicians recognize and address ethical issues in virome studies.
More about the research
This project is the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) core of the VAST Center (Viromes Across Space(s) and Time). It works across the center's other cores so that virome research in clinical and public health settings is guided by ethical reflection and meaningful community engagement. It pays special attention to Indigenous communities in the US Northern Plains.
Why it matters
Virome research is moving into clinical and public health use. Practical guidelines and consent materials from this work could help researchers and clinicians conduct it in ways that earn trust and respect participants. This may especially benefit Indigenous communities in the Northern Plains, whose members could help shape how such studies are designed and shared.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Tien Dong
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Establish standardized biospecimen collection procedures for virome analysis, including protocol development, personnel training, ongoing monitoring and a quality-control system across the consortium.
Whitney Maxwell
University of Utah, UT·Medicine & Clinical Research
Provide cancer genetics expertise, genetic counseling services and counseling interventions to cancer center researchers studying hereditary cancer across the State of Utah.
Stephanie Fullerton
University of Washington, WA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Describe and critically assess how the availability of NIH cloud-based data sharing and analysis platforms has changed patterns of who accesses large-scale genomic and linked health data and for what purposes.
The school
Stanford University: 87 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 739 research doctorates a year.
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