Ethics in Bioinformatics

As for all research disciplines, general research ethics also applies for bioinformatics. Among
those ethical obligations are the awareness of plagiarism, forgery, and transparency, as well as
the respect for confidentiality and privacy. Additionally, aspects from bioethics as well as ethics
in computer science are discussed in the context of ethics in bioinformatics.

The ‘Four Principles of Beauchamp and Childress’ are considered as the standard framework to
evaluate ethical concerns in healthcare and medical research. These principles are also
applicable in bioinformatics, e.g. in the work with whole genome sequencing data1.
Major ethical concerns in the field of bioinformatics are related to the work with confidential
medical information and the harm that could be caused to individuals when privacy protection is
not ensured. On the one hand, large genomic datasets carry valuable information for diagnosis
and treatment of diseases and have the potential to benefit society. On the other hand, our
genetic code is very sensitive information that is of interest for various branches of industry
including insurance agencies.

A less widely known ethical issue is the lack of diversity in medical datasets. Today, most
genomic datasets consist of samples mainly from European descent. As a result, genomic
analyses are biased and this research will benefit only parts of the global community.
Since the number of machine learning techniques and artificial intelligence applications for
bioinformatics purposes increases constantly, principles of artificial intelligence ethics become
more important for bioinformaticians.