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SETTING STANDARDS — Peter Kepros, left, and David Flagel chair UNB's Research Ethics Boards in Fredericton and Saint John, respectively.

Taking care of ethics in human research

The watchdogs include committees on each UNB campus. They are responsible for making sure research projects follow the university's code of research ethics, which is based on a national policy for research involving human subjects.

The national policy is outlined in the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. It articulates the guiding principles of the Medical Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The campus committees, which report to Vice-President of Research Gregory Kealey, examine all UNB research proposals to ensure they comply with Tri-Council policy.

"Any piece of research that involves the participation of humans is subject to Tri-Council Policy," says retired psychology professor Peter Kepros, who chairs the eight-person UNBF Research Ethics Board. "We protect them from harm. Our ethics boards ensure principles of fair treatment and informed consent are followed."

David Flagel chairs the five-member UNBSJ Research Ethics Board. The chairperson of the department of humanities and languages, he served as chair of the Atlantic Health Sciences Corp. Ethics Committee for seven years and as a member of the St. Joseph's Hospital Ethics Committee. He explains that surveys and student theses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, in addition to faculty and staff projects, are subject to review. "Research done in the context of class work, performance reviews and testing within normal education requirements, however, are not."

The price tag for not being able to show that every piece of research has been examined is steep. "Even if a research project is not supported by funding from one of these councils, if there are failures of the research to comply with Tri-Council Policy, we run the risk of losing funding for all research from the councils," says Dr. Kepros.

When a researcher submits a proposal to a board, it can be examined either by expedited review or by the full board. Expedited review is possible for projects where risk to subjects is deemed minimal, and it's conducted by the board chairperson. "In most cases, we use expedited review," Dr. Flagel says. "The vast majority of alterations or changes that need to be made are with consent forms. Participants must understand their rights and what is expected, so that their consent is really free."

Dr. Kepros adds that, "If the proposal doesn't quite match standards, researchers are more than willing to accommodate suggested changes to their proposals." In 2001, UNBF reviewed 111 cases and UNBSJ reviewed 29.

Researchers are advised to look at the Tri-Council and UNB policies and application forms as they plan their research so that their protocols are "ethically clean." The UNB Web site, www.unb.ca/centres/crds/policies/ethics/ethics.html, contains links to Tri-Council Policy through the National Council for Ethics in Human Research, to UNB's University Policy on Research Involving Humans and to the Application for Review of Research Involving Humans.

Research on plant stress may assist crop production

Molecular biologist Denis Maxwell, who joined UNBF's biology department last August, is trying to determine how plants sense when they're under stress.

His focus is the molecular connections between alterations in the function of mitochondria, which are the energy-producing factories found in all cells, and a process called programmed cell death (PCD).

"Mitochondria may act as sensors, enabling cells to sense and in turn adjust to changes in their environment," Dr. Maxwell explains. "Research, mostly from animal systems, shows that mitochondria play a key role in controlling PCD."

His lab is one of some 20 in the world researching this important area of mitochondria-PCD connections.

"Death at a cellular level is required for normal development and tissue maintenance in all organisms," he explains. "PCD can also be triggered, however, by stresses such as pathogen attack, as well as environmental changes such as chilling, excess light and drought."

Plant stress research like Dr. Maxwell's can lead to the production of plants with greater pathogen resistance, thereby decreasing the need for environmentally damaging pesticides. It can also lead to the production of plants in which certain aging processes are delayed, thus prolonging the shelf life of various fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Maxwell has three projects underway characterizing specific genes that may play a role in PCD.

One involves characterization of NtSCAR, which makes a protein that may regulate other genes.

"We want to know where it's found in the cell and what genes it switches on," he says. A plant he uses a lot in his research is Arabidopsis. "We now know the complete DNA sequence for this plant. Having this sequence makes it easier to study the structure and function of the genes."

His project on what is called an ABC transporter is particularly promising. Aided by graduate and undergraduate students, he is experimenting with this gene that encodes a transporter which shuttles molecules across membranes.

"When the plant is under duress, this transporter is created," Dr. Maxwell says. "What we want to know is where this transporter is in the cell and what it is transporting. We think we've found a specific transporter that may play a fundamental role in stress tolerance in plants."

In the third project, Dr. Maxwell and the researchers are using a green alga called Chlamydomonas to figure out how mitochondria can communicate with the nucleus. While stresses may affect the mitochondria, most of the genes that are switched on and off are found in the nucleus. How this communication is achieved has yet to be determined in any organism.

The young scientist's research is being funded by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). NSERC recently awarded him a $46,900-a-year operating grant for four years _ one of the largest grants for a starting faculty member at a Canadian university.

Dr. Maxwell has also led a successful grant application to the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Worth $309,164, the grant will be used to set up a Confocal Microscope Facility at UNBF for the purpose of enhancing the study of structure and function in biology.

A FIRST FOR UNB — Denis Maxwell says the Confocal Microscope Facility coming to UNBF will be of tremendous use to many areas of research. It will be the first of its kind to be established in New Brunswick.