In your professional role as a medical scientist/medical laboratory scientist, you will spend considerable time evaluating sources of information and making ethical choices. This assessment task is designed to enable you to begin developing evaluation skills and professional codes of ethics.

This task is a written assignment which will enable you to demonstrate your understanding of different forms of communication in the medical sciences and also allow you to identify what constitutes standards of ethical practice. You are to complete Part A to D of this assessment.

Part A) Listed below are two sources of information into the death of Jesse Gelsinger during a Phase I clinical trial using gene therapy. One of these information sources is a peer reviewed journal article and the other is a from a publicly available newspaper/website. You are to read both documents and in no more than 500 words, identify which article is which and then compare and contrast the format, style, content, and intended audience of these sources of information.

Article 1

When compiling your response you need to provide justification for your points of similarity or difference. For example, if you were to say “the peer reviewed publication is a more reputable sources of information”, you would need to justify this comment by using examples from either or both of the documents as to why you feel this is the case. You may choose to present your responses to part A as dot points or in a table, if you feel this helps with making your communication more succinct. Sentences and paragraphs are also acceptable ways to present your response. You do not need to insert any references in your response to part A.

Part C) In no more than 200 words, explain the differences and similarities between primary and secondary literature. You should present this response as full sentences. Provide by way of references (ie in-text citations and a reference list), one example of a primary journal article and one secondary journal article. Ensure the references you provide are presented in the Harvard or APA format. It is not suitable to use any of the given information sources (either those given in Part A of this assessment or those contained on the unit moodle page / in lecture slides) as your examples. You must find your own examples of primary and secondary literature when responding to this question.

Part D) The articles in Part A describe what is arguably the most famous conflict of interest case in clinical medicine. The ramifications of this death not only put gene therapy research back a decade but also delayed FDA approval for vial gene based treatments. In your own words identify the unethical issues associated with this study, the impact it had on the participants and the long term impact it has had on biotechnology and medical research. Your response should be no more than 750 words, written in full sentences / paragraphs and reference a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed journal articles. Make sure to include in-text citations and a full reference list at the end of your response. The reference list is not included in the word count. Also note that, you should complete a further review of literature on this topic before compiling your response so you are fully informed of details and events which are associated with this study.

A detailed criteria sheet can be found on the unit Moodle page, however assessment will be based on knowledge of theory, rationalization and justification of your arguments/ideas, presentation and referencing. The division of marks for each question on this assessment is as follows:

Part A 20%

Part B 20%

Part C 20%

Part D 30%

Spelling / grammar and presentation 10%

Throughout this unit, you will gain a basic understanding of the diverse roles of a medical scientist. This understanding will be put in context in a practical environment during your residential school. As a future medical scientist, you will be expected to undertake various practical activities in your future workplace and will be required to consult a range of literature to help inform your conduct these practical aspects of your future job and interpret the findings. 

In this assessment, you will be required to answer a series of questions that reflects upon several key aspects of the residential school. These questions will help you to link the theory form the lectures into the practical skills and techniques that you will conduct at the residential school. During this assessment, you will be required to report your results and findings from the residential school, reflect upon these findings and investigate additional literature to demonstrate a deep understanding of the strong links between the theoretical components that underpin these practical exercises.

You are to submit a copy of this assessment (of which the template will be provided to you on the Moodle site along with the laboratory manual) which contains your results, answers, calculations and interpretations from residential school along with answers to a series of questions that relate to the practical techniques conducted. Accurate and comprehensive answers to these questions will require you to have a clear understanding of the teaching materials presented in this unit and also may require you to perform additional research using existing literature on the topic. Please note that the laboratory manual uploaded to the unit Moodle page will also contain background information related to these techniques and instructions to complete the practical tasks. The assessment template will also be provided on the Moodle site and will include spaces for answers/responses for each practical, interpretation of these results and a series of questions related to the experimental technique. You are only required to submit the assessment answer sheet and not the original laboratory manual. 

A detailed criteria sheet can be found on the unit Moodle page, however assessment will be based on knowledge of theory, rationalization and justification of your arguments/ideas, presentation, referencing and correctness of calculations. Each section of the assessment will have a set allocation of marks provided and will be assessed in relation to:

- Accuracy of your answers

- Clarity of the presentation of your results

- Accurate interpretation of results

- Logical conclusions drawn from these results

- Supporting statements with literature (as appropriate) and accurate referencing styles

- Spelling and grammar