Highly Portable and Cloud-Enabled Neuroimaging Research: Confronting Ethics Challenges in Field Research with New Populations

Brian Scan
Award Amount
$1,597,154
Project Dates
08/07/2020 to 08/06/2024
Principal Investigator

Francis Shen, JD, PhD (University of Minnesota)
Susan M. Wolf, JD (University of Minnesota)
Frances Lawrenz, PhD (University of Minnesota)

This innovative 4-year project will convene a national Working Group of top neuroethics, neurolaw, and neuroscience experts to conduct empirical research and generate evidence-based consensus recommendations for the ethical conduct of research using highly portable, cloud-enabled MRI with new and diverse populations in field settings. Highly-portable MRI, a transformative technology supported by the NIH BRAIN Initiative, will allow researchers to conduct population-based neuroscience research and will accelerate research on brain biomarkers. As portable MRI develops quickly, guidance is urgently needed on unresolved ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI). This project builds on two NIH Administrative Supplements that have preliminarily identified the most pressing unresolved ELSI issues.

Follow links to media coverage on the topic: Stories highlighted by the Research & Innovation Office, Medical Ethics Advisor and a Bill of Health blogpost.