Professors Susan Wolf and Francis Shen, and Co-Authors, Publish Results on Portable MRI Brain Research Survey in Neuroethics
Professors Susan Wolf and Francis Shen, along with co-authors Professor Frances Lawrenz and Dr. Molly K. Madzelan, have published the results of a new NIH-funded survey that finds the U.S. public is ready to participate in brain research using emerging portable magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI) technology. These smaller and highly portable scanners will allow brain research in remote settings that were previously inaccessible, enabling researchers to understand the full range of human brain function and disease. However, moving brain scanning out of major medical centers and into the field will require ethics guidance to ensure safe and appropriate use.
Funded by a grant from the NIH BRAIN Initiative, University of Minnesota researchers Molly K. Madzelan, PhD, Frances Lawrenz, PhD, Susan M. Wolf, JD, and Francis X. Shen, JD, PhD, conducted a nationwide survey to gauge the public’s understanding and views of pMRI—a neuroimaging tool that could provide new research opportunities with populations historically underrepresented in brain research. Their article, recently published in the journal Neuroethics, “Revolutionizing Brain Research Using Portable MRI in Field Settings: Public Perspectives on the Ethical and Legal Challenges,” reports that about 80% of the 2,001 respondents were open to participating in pMRI brain research, including individuals in demographic groups typically excluded from brain imaging studies in the past. But the research also found that prospective participants do not fully understand pMRI’s capabilities and limitations. The study supports the need for guidelines addressing the ethical and legal challenges associated with the new technology.
“Portable MRI technology has the potential to transform how we study and care for the brain,” Madzelan says. “But understanding how the general public views it and identifying the ethical, legal, and societal challenges associated with this new technology are crucial.”
Shen adds, “In order to fully leverage this new technology, researchers need to collaborate closely with participant communities.” Among the issues that need to be addressed are how to ensure safe scanning in remote settings, participant privacy and data confidentiality, and appropriate management of incidental findings that may emerge in research imaging. The new study published in Neuroethics is part of a larger project to identify and address these issues. (For more on this project, visit the project website.)
MRI has transformed neuroscience research, but the traditional requirement that participants travel to large hospitals or university research facilities for imaging has limited brain research. pMRI can help erase that barrier, but poses ethical challenges that must be addressed as the technology is deployed to remote locales.
Susan M. Wolf
