Responsible Conduct in Research
Today concluded a weeks worth of seminars focused on responsible conduct in research. The movies, speeches, and articles that I viewed in the past week convinced me that all forms of research, not just those involving human subjects, significantly affect society and for that reason ethics in the laboratory is a requisite.
The first seminar began by detailing appropriate protocol for research involving human subjects. At first, I was having a difficult time understanding how such suggestions could apply to my work with a mouse cell line. However, as the week unfolded, I quickly began to understand how negligence in my work could negatively affect individuals. This first became apparent when I read the article about an investigator who lied about his research in order to secure funding. Such an act places money that could be better used to advance human knowledge, and therefore better society, in hands where this will not occur. Furthermore, to turn science into a competition among investigators in search of notoriety often hinders the release of knowledge in a timely manner, as evidenced in the movie “And the Band Played On.” Additionally, negligence in research could lead to incorrect conclusions that, once applied to society, could be detrimental. Improved knowledge of the world allows us to better interact with it, and obviously incorrect conclusions could be very detrimental.
This set of seminars really emphasized to me the importance of ethical research. Even though it may seem that the slightest negligence or alteration of data could do no harm, this small change could adversely affect individuals in various ways. As a scientist, it is important to always be aware of this and to not succumb to negligence in a rush to publish.