Aims of the course:
This course will explore how society developed systems of civil obligation and criminal deterrence. As we make our way through concepts of privacy, confidentiality, property and equality, we will ask what happens to these hallowed concepts when they come up against 21st century biotechnologies riding the crest of the genetics wave.
Course content overview:
Orientation week
Purpose/Learning outcomes
By studying this week the students should have:
- Become familiar with navigating around the VLE and from VLE to links and back
- Tested their ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sorted out any problems with the help of the eLearning Helpdesk
- Learnt how to look for, assess and reference internet resources
- Used forums to introduce themselves to other students
- Contributed to a discussion forum to introduce themselves to other students and discuss why they are interested in the course, what they hope to get out their studies and also to respond to News item sent out on behalf of tutor
Teaching Week 1: What is the law?
Purpose
An understanding of where law comes from, its primary objectives in maintaining civic society, why it is important to remember that some laws only govern transactions between individuals, others regulate the relations between the individual and the state, and completely different laws apply between nations.
Learning outcomes
By studying this week the students should have an understanding of:
- The structure of law, legal concepts and relationships
- Private/public responsibility, precedents and remedies
- How all of this is relevant to the rules, regulations, conventions and other laws governing the use and application of genetic data.
Teaching Week 2: Law and technology
Purpose
Law evolves organically and politically and usually slowly. This is in contrast to technology which is a fast response to crisis and available tools and data. How quickly the latter outruns the former, and how “knee jerk” legal reactions to runaway innovations can be as damaging as they are helpful. Understanding that law is useless unless enforceable, and that there is no such thing as a global court/police force to ensure that international ethical rules are upheld.
Learning outcomes
By studying this week the students should have an understanding of:
- CRSPR, ”designer babies”, food crops and GMO regulation
- The debate around the legality or otherwise of He Jiankui’s procedure. The EU position on GMOs and the recent ruling from the Court of Justice on genetic editing v random mutagenesis.
Teaching Week 3: Law and genetic information
Purpose
Understanding how law categorises and seeks to protect personal information. Regulation of genetic information, medical confidentiality, doctors’ liability.
Learning outcomes
By studying this week the students should have an understanding of:
- The intersection of regulation and genetics
- The law of privacy, anonymity and medical confidentiality
- Types of genetic disease
- Genetic counselling and the law of negligence
- Prenatal scanning and course actions for “diminished “ or “wrongful” life
- Individual and family interests in genetic information and third parties’ interests in genetic information
- Case study on the liability of local authorities and re-adoption genetic testing.
Teaching Week 4: Genetic discrimination
Purpose
What “discrimination” is in law, and how societies seek to control it via common law, statute and international law. The state’s interest in genetic information.
Learning outcomes
By studying this week the students should have an understanding of:
- “prohibited grounds” of discrimination
- Prohibition of discrimination in the provision of services, employment and insurance
- Attempts by countries (e.g. US and Canada) to prevent discrimination on the basis of genetic information
- GINA
Teaching Week 5: Body parts and patents
Purpose
How law developed out of property rights; types of property recognised by all legal systems. This session will investigate the notion of proprietary interests in biological entities in the UK and other common law systems. We will then explore the roots of patent law and the challenges presented to intellectual property regulators by genetic technology
Learning outcomes
By studying this week the students should have an understanding of:
- The law of body parts
- No property in a body or body parts: Religious origins of rule, Slaves, grave robbers and animals
- Current challenges: cosmetic surgery, trade in organs, retention of gametes by fertility clinics, etc
- The notion of property rights arising out of “exercise of skill” (eg dissection or preservation)
- Human Tissue Act 2004
- Patent law
- Origin, “inventive step”, CRSPR litigation
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week : 6-12 April 2026
Teaching Weeks: 13 April-17 May 2026
Feedback Week: 18-24 May 2026
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).
Certificate of Participation
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
What our students say:
"The course fully met my expectations. I have acquired many valuable materials that I will gladly use in writing my dissertation"
"I am thankful to have learnt from everyone since the beginning of this course. I also value the insightful course material and guidance from our tutor that has made this learning process very fulfilling!"
"I must say that this course has been to a reasonable extend an eye opener for me about what is going on in the world of genetics and the advancement in the technology of DNA modification. I truly enjoy all the topics in the course. I also enjoyed all the contributions to each topic. I honestly shared both the anxieties and enthusiasm of professionals on the course."
