First-ever ethics checklist developed for portable MRI brain researchers

Portable MRI (pMRI) technologies are rapidly transforming the landscape of neuroscience research, allowing neuroscientists to acquire brain data in community settings outside the hospital for the first time. But as neuroscientists increase access to MRI technology and move their research from a lab environment to broad community settings, they face novel ethical, legal, and societal issues (ELSI).

To prepare neuroscientists to address these challenges, an interdisciplinary team of scientists, ethicists, and legal experts analyzed the issues. The team released the first-ever checklist tool that offers practical operational guidance for pMRI researchers.

The “Portable MRI Research ELSI Checklist,” published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, walks pMRI researchers through the entire research lifecycle: creating research protocols, preparing for scanning, conducting scanning, and responding to participant needs after scanning. The tool focuses on ELSI issues and unique challenges such as participant safety, incidental findings, informed consent and data privacy.

“This is exactly what researchers in the field need—something tangible that they can put into action immediately to improve portable MRI research,” said Damien Fair, director of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain and MacArthur Fellow.

“Portable MRI researchers are at the cutting edge of science, and they need concrete tools like this Checklist,” said Francis Shen, University of Minnesota professor in the Law School, and lead author of the study. “It will enable more rigorous, inclusive and equitable neuroscience research.”