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Jantina de Vries
| Contact address | The Ethox Centre Division of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Oxford, Badenoch Building, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LF |
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Jantina has been working at The Ethox Centre since January 2006, first as ethics coordinator for MalariaGEN, and as a Dphil researcher since October 2008.
Projects
Ethical challenges in the release and publication of ethnicity-related research results in genomic research in Africa. The case of the MalariaGEN Consortium.
This DPhil project investigates stakeholder perspectives on the ethical challenges of collecting, using, publishing or releasing ethnic data in genomic research in Africa. It focuses on the use of ethnicity in a so-called Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) of malaria. The GWAS methodology requires the use of population data for a meaningful analysis of the results – without population data, GWAS studies cannot be conducted. However, the generation of ethnic and genomic data is thought to raise important ethical challenges, and can possibly lead to for instance ethnic stigmatization. Jantina is seeking to investigate exactly where the challenges lie in using ethnicity data in genomic research, and is conducting qualitative interviews with researchers, fieldworkers, ethics committee members and representatives of the funding bodies in Africa, Europe and the US.
This work is funded by the Wellcome Trust as a Research Studentship (Oct 2008 to Sept 2011), and is supervised by Professor Michael Parker and Professor Ray Fitzpatrick.
MalariaGEN
MalariaGEN (www.malariagen.net) is a research project investigating the genetic basis of resistance against severe malaria by using a GWAS approach. This work combines over 20 sub-projects in 14 countries in Africa and Asia. Jantina has been the ethics coordinator for this project since January 2006, and continues to be engaged in this project on a part-time basis. This work combines continued monitoring of ethics review and sample use, development of an understanding of the ethical issues that arise in GWAS work in the African and Asian context, organising workshops and other activities.
Jantina is part of the MalariaGEN Ethics Team which comprises Dr. Susi Bull and Professor Michael Parker. MalariaGEN is based in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford.
Hypergenes
This EU FP7 project is seeking to develop a comprehensive genomic epidemiological model of complex traits, by focusing on Essential Hypertension and associated Tissue Organ Damages. Jantina is a member of the Ethical Steering Group for this project.
Jantina’s Background
Jantina holds a BSc and MSc in Rural Development Sociology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, alongside qualifications in Biology at the University of Groningen. Jantina also obtained a research master degree in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Throughout the years, she has focused on the role of science and technology in society, most often with a focus on low income countries. Previous experience in this field includes research projects in Ghana and Cuba to study possibilities of developing agricultural biotechnologies for small scale, resource poor farmers. In Italy, she focused on the development and structure of scientific research on obesity, examining disciplinary stakes in scientific engagement with obesity.
