Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Working with Human Tissues for Translational Cancer Research
Published on: November 26, 2015
The institutional review board and protecting human subjects: 10 frequently asked questions
Sheldon Zink1, Laura Kimberly, Stacey Wertlieb
1Department of Medical Ethics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Abstract:
It is essential that anyone involved in research involving human subjects be familiar with the purpose and role of institutional review boards. Institutional review boards are designed, first and foremost, to protect human research subjects by overseeing the implementation of federal regulations regarding protection of human subjects. The federal government requires institutional review board approval for any human subject research that receives federal funding, and many scholarly journals require proof of institutional review board approval of the research before publication. In this article, the answers to 10 frequently asked questions about the role of institutional review boards highlight the important contributions made by institutional review boards to the conduct of ethically sound research. The aim is to generate a working knowledge of the institutional review board's function that can be used by every researcher contemplating working with human research subjects. This is the first in a series of 3 articles examining common issues in research ethics.
Related Concept Videos
Ethics in Research
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Psychosurgery
Historical Development of Psychosurgery
In the 1930s, Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz introduced a surgical procedure designed...
Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...
Standards of Care II
Blinding
