NIH-Funded Experts Offer New Guidance for Navigating Ethical and Legal Challenges in Brain Research Using Portable MRI Technologies


Martinos News
Tagged:Portable MRI

The expanding deployment of highly portable MRI (pMRI) technology for brain research outside the hospital to more remote settings is helping to expand research participation with underserved populations and ensure more inclusive research participation. But the rapid development of pMRI technology has outpaced the ethical, legal and societal implication (ELSI) guidelines necessary to ensure research participant safety and community trust during brain research projects.

Since 2020, top neuroethics, neurolaw, and neuroscience experts, the latter including the Matthew Rosen, PhD, associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Low-field MRI and Hyperpolarized Media Laboratory at the MGH Martinos Center, have been working to address barriers to the successful implementation of pMRI for brain research in the community, especially with participants traditionally underrepresented in neuroimaging studies.

A symposium of nine articles funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative – “Emerging Portable Technology for Neuroimaging Research in New Field Settings: Legal & Ethical Challenges” – is the culmination of the group’s work to guide the use of pMRI in research. Among the tools offered is a powerful ELSI Checklist that will help researchers, Institutional Review Boards, and regulators address ELSI issues as the portable imaging equipment is deployed more broadly.

Symposium articles include:

Conducting Research with Highly Portable MRI in Community Settings: A Practical Guide to Navigating Ethical Issues and ELSI Checklist

Expert Stakeholder Perspectives on Emerging Technology for Neuroimaging Research with Highly Portable MRI: The Need for Guidance on Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues

Far from Home: Managing Incidental Findings in Field Research with Portable MRI

The Realization of Portable MRI for Indigenous Communities in the USA and Canada

Socioeconomic Factors in Brain Research: Increasing Sample Representativeness with Portable MRI

Portable Accessible MRI in Dementia Research: Ethical Considerations About Research Representation and Dementia-Friendly Technology

The Need for IRB Leadership to Address the New Ethical Challenges of Research with Highly Portable Neuroimaging Technologies

Ethical Oversight and Social Licensing of Portable MRI Research

The recommendations and tools offered in the articles will play an important role in advancing the mission of the Martinos Center. As a center, and as developers of pMRI technology, “our goal is to democratize access to the technology, to actually truly make it accessible to everyone,” Dr. Rosen says, “and that includes addressing these ethical and legal questions. We’re thrilled to have been a part of the broader effort to do this.”

Learn more and read the original news release here.