Research Ethics Committees in Laboratory Medicine

Abstract

Biomedical research that involves human subjects requires compliance with ethical principles and guidelines. The ethical and scientific standards of research have been thoroughly discussed by international ethical guidelines and declarations. Compliance with these ensures the autonomy, dignity and well-being of research subjects; as well as the integrity and credibility of research results. Research ethics committees (RECs) are mandated to ensure that research proposals are scientifically sound and ethical. In this review, we define RECs in laboratory medicine and describe their role based on the examination of the requirements of ethical research; discuss particular ethical issues that arise in laboratory medicine research using biological samples, what challenges they face and how they can ensure the quality of their review. RECs need to be put into a broader framework that ensures institutional governance with continuous evaluation and auditing that ensure the quality of ethical review.

Keywords: autonomy; beneficence; biological samples; informed consent; institutional review boards; justice; laboratory medicine; non-maleficence; research ethics; research ethics committees.