About the Center
The Center for Integration of Research on Genetics and Ethics (CIRGE) was established at Stanford University in September 2004. It is one of four interdisciplinary Centers of Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) research created by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, to proactively identify and deliberate ethical, legal and social issues in current and emerging genetic research. CIRGE is based at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, but includes over thirty Stanford University faculty in the fields of genetics, neuroscience, law, history, medicine, radiology, psychiatry, anthropology, and philosophy, among others.
The focus of CIRGE is to study the impact of behavioral and neurogenetic research on human identity. Research on human genetic variation has begun to identify important genetic differences between individuals and groups that appear to be associated with human diseases or behaviors. This research raises questions about individual, group, and even species identity. Research on the genetic basis of behavior and neurological disease raises questions about what determines individual personality, control over actions, moral agency, and what makes us human. It also poses challenges to our ideas about what is "healthy" verses "diseased", where the boundaries of enhancement should be drawn, or whether genetic bases of behavior are immutable and thus equated with a person's identity. These areas of genetic research are ripe for proactive inquiry about how the research may affect society's notions of identity and how ideas about identity shape genetic research.
The specific aims of CIRGE are to:
- Create interactive models for proactive identification and deliberation of ethical, legal and social issues arising from the conduct of genetic research.
- Conduct interdisciplinary ELSI research to explore the impact of genetic research on values and norms, and the influence of values and norms on the conceptualization and design of genetic research.
- Develop guidance and educational materials for genetic researchers, ELSI researchers and trainees about the ethics, design and conduct of genetic research in two focus areas: behavioral and neurogenetics. These will include issue briefs, policy guidance documents, additional print and web-based educational materials and documentary films for research ethics training.
- Create new mechanisms for integrating social and ethical considerations into genetics training and for integrating genetics into ethics and social science training in the academic setting.
Through the successful achievement of these aims, CIRGE hopes to serve as a national model for incorporating ethical, legal and societal consideration into the design and conduct of cutting-edge genetic research as it unfolds.
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