85284 - Bioethics

Learning outcomes

Students will be provided with a philosophical and legal foundation on which basis to critically assess potentially controversial ethical issues emerging out of the new situations and possibilities brought about through the advance of biology and medicine, and in particular through the development and use of genomics.

Course contents

The course will be divided into two modules.

The Bioethics module will address the main ethical, social and (partially) legal issues (ELSI) that characterize the current relationship between scientific data and the normative aspect. To this end, the module will be structured in two parts: in the first, it will be explored arguments and methods of bioethics; in the second part, these tools will be applied to specific issues raised from the use of genomics technology (personalized medicine and NGS, predictive medicine and genetic testing, gene therapy and genome editing). The two complementary parts aim to lead the student into the framing of bioethical problems. The following topics will be covered in the module: principles and methods used in bioethics; bioethical regulation of genetic testing; ethics and integrity of genomic research; data ethics, privacy and informed consent.

The Artificial Intelligence module aims to provide an in-depth overview of the many ethical and social issues raised by information and communication technologies (ICT), with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and its impact on society, individuals, and research. Conceptual analysis will be supported by discussion of practical case studies. In particular, the following topics will be addressed:
fundamental concepts of GDPR; AI, Big Data and Data Protection; AI and medical research: legal issues; Machine Learning, Big Health Data and issues of bias and discrimination; explainability and transparency of artificial intelligence; AI and Trust Evaluation of AI Use Cases; socio-technical scenarios, ethical and legal issues; AI and responsibility in health care.

Readings/Bibliography

For each of the two modules it will be provided slide of lessons, scientific articles and supplementary teaching materials that will be made available on Virtuale platform.

There will be also suggested texts that cover each part of the course.

Teaching methods

Teaching explanations of ethical, social and legal subject-matter will be dialogic, i.e. case studies, focus groups, interconnected with the students' particular questions, interests or requests, in order to stimulate autonomy of judgment and critical ability.

Assessment methods

For both attending and non-attending students, the exam takes place in written and oral form. The written exam takes place only in the first useful exam session after the end of classes; the oral exam takes place in one of the useful exam session scheduled on Almaesami.

The written test consists of 31 multiple choice covering the whole course content (multiple choice questions will be equally divided between the two parts, i.e. Module 1 and Module 2).

Students who accept the written test grade do not have to take the oral exam.

In case of failure to pass the written test or refusal to accept the grade, students will be required to take the regular oral exam in one of the exam dates scheduled after the end of the course. The oral exam consists of two or three questions related to Module 1 and two or three questions related to Module 2.

The following criteria will be used to assign the final grade:

• knowledge of a very limited number of topics, extensive support by the interviewer to address and answer the questions, basic yet appropriate language → 18-19/30;
• knowledge of a limited number of topics, ability to autonomously address basic bioethical-legal problems, use of appropriate language → 20-24/30;
• comprehensive knowledge of the programme, ability to autonomously and critically analyse bioethical-legal problems, use of specific terminology → 25-29/30;
• extensive knowledge of the programme, ability to reason autonomously and critically analyse bioethical-legal problems, make connections between the topics, ability to master the specific terminology and ability to present bioethical-legal arguments. → 30-30L/30.

Teaching tools

Lectures will also deal with National, International and European case law on the subject-matter and will be provided references on these cases.

Students with learning disorders or other impairments who need special aids can point that out to the instructor, who will make appropriate arrangements to that end.

Office hours

See the website of Silvia Zullo

See the website of Giuseppe Contissa