News from NUCSER | National training workshop on Ethics in Biomedical and Health Research: Perception and Practice

DST NU-TEC & NUCSER successfully hosted a National training workshop on Ethics in Biomedical and Health Research: Perception and Practice from 5th to 8th July 2021. Dissemination of vital information on various ethical aspects is of paramount importance and the workshop aimed at being an eye-opener to those involved in biomedical, pharmaceutical and clinical research including trials, each of which is guided by ethical principles.

Prof. Dr. Satheesh Kumar Bhandary, Vice-Chancellor, Nitte DU in his opening remarks stated that rapid advancements in the field of medicine and biomedical sciences add a newer responsibility and complex dilemmas for both medical practitioners and researchers on various ethical aspects to be considered. He introduced the various state-of-art research facilities available at Nitte DU to all the participants and asserted on how the institution has adopted specific codes, rules and policies relating to research ethics through an Ethical Committee set up for the purpose.

The key speakers of the webinar were Dr. Nandini Kumar, Former Dy. Director-General Sr. Grade (ICMR), Vice President FERCI; Dr. Animesh Jain, Professor Dept. of Community Medicine, KMC Mangalore; Dr. Ashok Shenoy, Dept. of Pharmacology, KMC Mangalore; Dr. Chakrapani M, Professor, Dept. of Medicine, KMC Mangalore; Dr. Ramachandra. S.G, Director ICMR - National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical research DHR Hyderabad; Dr. Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, Dr. Indrani Karunasagar, Director, DST NU-TEC; Dr. Anirban Chakraborty, Director NUCSER.

Core topics discussed in the workshop included:

• Snippets of Ethical Issues in Academic Research
• ICMR Guidelines 2017: General Ethical Issues
• Ethical Issues in Biological Material Transfer and Biobanking Data sets
• ICH Good Clinical Practice Guidelines E6 R(2)
• Ethical Guidelines for Research involving human subjects including Minors and Vulnerable, Informed consent
• Ethical Issues in Academic Vs Industry-Sponsored Clinical Trials
• Public Health Research Ethics, Medical Devices 2017
• Ethics in Use of Animals for Biomedical Research
• New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules 2019
• Serious Adverse Event Reporting Timelines and Compensation for Research Related Injury
• Ethical Issues in Vaccine Development and Trials
• Responsible conduct of research
• Publication ethics
• Dual Use of Research Concern

The webinar was coordinated and moderated by Prof. Dr. Anirban Chakraborty, Prof. Dr. Smitha Hegde, Dr. Krishna Kumar, and Dr. Juliet Mohan Raj. The four-day training workshop had 1042 registrants across the globe and an e-certificate was provided to the participants based on their MCQ performance at the end of the session.