AutoCure - Curing autoimmune rheumatic diseases
Format
Research project
Funding
European Union
Aims
AutoCure is an EU funded research project within the sixth framework programme. Involved in the project are 26 different partners, of which 6 are industrial partners and 20 are fro m the acadeaemia, from all over Europe. The project duration is 60 months from March 1st 2006 and the total budget is 11 m€.
The objective is to transform knowledge obtained from molecular research particularly within genomics, into a cure in an increasing number of patients suffering from inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is used as a prototype since this disease offers unique opportunities to define and evaluate new therapies. Professor Lars Klareskog at Karolinska Institutet is co-ordinator of AutoCure.
In addition to providing an ethics management structure, the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics will actively work through a specific work-package in order to offer possible solutions to urgent problems estimated to arise in association with the research. A doctoral student, Linus Johnsson (MD) will work with a project comparing the attitudes to genetic and biobank research as it is revealed in public surveys and in actual decisions made by research subjects. He will examine and analyse the frequency of withdrawals to biobank sampling made by sample providers and elaborate the concept of risk related to this kind of research including a critical examination of what constitutes ”dignitary harms”. His theoretical framework will be developed through a philosophical analysis of the concepts autonomy and trust. More information about AutoCure is available at http://www.autocure.org/.
PhD project
More information
- Mats G. Hansson, Professor of Biomedical Ethics
- Linus Johnsson, MD, PhD student
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