Law Gene Centre


	Welcome to the Centre for Law and Genetics

	The Centre for Law and Genetics is based at the School of Law at the University of Tasmania. Research is undertaken in collaboration with Australian and international academic institutions. The Centre’s research projects have been funded continuously since 1994, through a series of competitive research grants awarded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and more recently, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). The mission of the Centre is to provide excellence in research for the benefit of Australian and International communities into the legal, ethical and social issues arising from developments in genetic technology. The Centre aims to promote effective governance facilitating ethical research, development and application of these technologies and the equitable distribution of benefits. Through the Centre’s Biotechnology, Ethics, Law and Society (BELS) Network, the Centre fosters multidisciplinary collaboration on an international scale. The research group comprises Professor Donald Chalmers (Director – Utas), Professor Loane Skene (Deputy Director – UMelb), Professor Margaret Otlowski (Deputy Director – Utas), Associate Professor Dianne Nicol (Deputy Director – Utas), and Dr Mark Stranger (Executive Director – Utas). Postgraduate students are encouraged to participate in the Centre’s research programs; they are given the opportunity to teach, participate in the work of the Centre (including submissions to national and international inquiries) and to expand their horizons through membership of the BELS Network.

	The Centre’s Purpose

	The Centre directs its research towards investigating legal and ethical standards in relation to: - the collection, storage and banking of DNA (including DNA profiling) for commercial purposes; - privacy of genetic information; - discrimination in insurance and employment; - patenting of biotechnological inventions; - structuring of the biotechnology industry; - domestic and international control of commercial use of biotechnology; - regulation of stem cell research and cloning .