About Us | ELSI at UNC

History

The Center for Genomics and Society at UNC-Chapel Hill (CGS) was funded as a Center for Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social (ELSI) Research in 2007 (P50HG004488). In 2013, it was awarded a competitive renewal. The CGS was administratively housed in the Department of Social Medicine, an interdisciplinary department in the School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Our mission was to conduct transdisciplinary, policy-relevant research and to provide training on the ethical, legal and social implications of large-scale genomic studies and their translation into clinical and public health interventions.

Please visit the CEER page for more information about the center and its work during this time.

The ELSI program of the NHGRI funded the creation of research centers such as ours with the resources and expertise to design and implement multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary investigations of particularly complex, persistent or rapidly emerging ELSI issues, because they believe that they are an important addition to ongoing genetic, genomic and ELSI research efforts. It is their hope that such Centers would continue to exist at their institutions even after P50 funding has ended. With support from the UNC School of Medicine Office of Research, the CGS continued to provide an intellectual environment for a diverse community of research scientists dedicated to translational research.

Please visit the CGS page to learn more about its activities.

Today

The ELSI framework can be applied to, and add value to, many different disciplines and applications of biotechnology beyond just human genomic uses like gene-editing, such as: microbiome and virome genomics, robotics, AI and machine learning, functional MRI, brain organoids, organ donation, CAR-T therapy, etc. In fact, this is already happening, and the Center is expanding its scope to reflect these advances.

With continued support from the SOM Office of Research, the Center plans to offer research support and assistance to the broader Health Affairs community, promoting its expertise in the ELSI framework for application in genomics and other emerging technologies.

The Center’s mission is to promote transdisciplinary, policy-relevant research and to provide training to those at UNC to examine the ethical, legal and social implications of biotechnology advances and their translation into clinical and public health interventions. The Center for ELSI@UNC is a consultation resource for current projects, as well as for individuals interested in structuring grants to include an ELSI component. It is also continuing its role in mentoring future ELSI scholars by providing them with an intellectual and research community and access to faculty mentors. To that end, regular events bring together faculty and students who share an interest in ELSI research.