Interdisciplinary Conference about Ethics and Data Protection in Precision Medicine

On November 24, 2021, the symposium organized by the Bern Center for Precision Medicine (BCPM) addressed ethical and legal issues with respect to the exchange and use of clinical and omics data for research purposes. It was centered on the new research methodologies as they are being used in Precision Medicine (PM), such as data research and machine learning within bigger pools of anonymized and/or encoded genomic data coming from several clinics. The subject matter focus lied on the facilitation of research and the practical issues encountered in Switzerland.

Traditions, processes and concepts in the domain of medical research legislation and ethics grew out of classical methodologies such as clinical trials. How can we adapt these to accommodate for precision medicine research?

Prof. Samia Hurst-Majno from the Institut Ethique Histoire Humanités, University of Geneva, talks about the importance of confidentiality when working in Precision Medicine.

Dr. Christine Currat from the Swiss Biobanking Platform, presents the SBP, whch is the research infrastructure of national importance, supporting human/non-human biobanking activities.

Dr. Julia Maurer from the SIB Personalized Health Informatics Group, talks about responsible data sharing and its legal framework for research purposes in Precision Medicine.

Dr. Senija Selimovic-Hamza, coordinator on the SPHN SOCIBP driver project, talks about the experiences encountered in handling this project from an administrative point of view.