Swabbing Students: Should Universities Be Allowed to Facilitate Educational DNA Testing?

Abstract

Recognizing the profound need for greater patient and provider familiarity with personalized genomic medicine, many university instructors are including personalized genotyping as part of their curricula. During seminars and lectures students run polymerase chain reactions on their own DNA or evaluate their experiences using direct-to-consumer genetic testing services subsidized by the university. By testing for genes that may influence behavioral or health-related traits, however, such as alcohol tolerance and cancer susceptibility, certain universities have stirred debate on the ethical concerns raised by educational genotyping. Considering the potential for psychosocial harm and medically relevant outcomes, how far should university-facilitated DNA testing be permitted to go? The analysis here distinguishes among these learning initiatives and critiques their approaches to the ethical concerns raised by educational genotyping.

Introducing Personal Genomics to College Athletes: Potentials and Pitfalls

“…Kenneth W. Kirkwood, Western University Callier (2012) offers us a good overview of an emergent form of a long-standing practice of utilizing students in research. In the process of detailing and analyzing genetic testing projects on, and sometimes also by, university students, Callier recognizes the conflation of research on education and educational research when she writes of how the various regulations and laws view the two disparate activities and the suitability of institutional review board (IRB) review of this kind of research.…”

“…As Professor Callier (2012) observes, a growing number of college students are exposed to personal genomics through their academic institutions. And, as noted specifically in her article, in some instances, university administrators have proposed providing the entire incoming freshman class with access to personal genomics technology.…”

The Effects of Personal Pharmacogenetic Testing on the Effects of Pharmacy Student Perceptions of Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Precision Medicine

“…Some universities offering genomic testing for genetic diseases have been criticized for failing to provide genetic counseling or conducting testing in a non-CLIAcertified laboratory. 13 The BPS 115 course directors held a lecture session to disclose the results of the students' genotypes. During this session, course directors reviewed the clinical implications in terms of drug metabolism of different variants of CYP2C19.…”

Personal microbiomes and next-generation sequencing for laboratory-based education

“…However, using personal samples for educational purposes also raises a host of practical and ethical issues (Walt et al 2011;Callier 2012;Sanderson et al 2013;LaBonte and Beers 2015;Garber, Hyland and Dasgupta 2016). Before undertaking any lessons or experiments involving human-derived samples, it is extremely important to communicate with the appropriate institutional review board (IRB), which has jurisdiction over human subjects research and can provide guidance in prioritizing student privacy and addressing health implications.…”