Ethical Approach

At Variant Bio, ethics is a priority, not an afterthought

We are a mission-driven company, dedicated to strong ethics, benefit sharing, and improving global health. Our research model is based on respect for the people and communities who work with us.

A crowd of people standing outside watching a person in a lab coat presenting.

Ethically minded

An independent Ethics Advisory Board, composed of Indigenous community members, bioethicists, and genetic counselors, advises us on every project. We prioritize the needs and values of research partners. Variant Bio will protect the privacy and other rights of all participants, both individually and as a group. To learn more, read our framework and key principles for ethics & community engagement and our data and sample governance principles & commitments.

A man in the foreground in front of a computer. The photo looks over the computer at a woman across the table, listening to the man

Study co-design

All studies at Variant Bio are co-designed with local organizations and, wherever possible, with local communities to address questions that are relevant to community health. These organizations include community groups, academics, healthcare professionals, hospitals, and biobanks around the world.

Several people sitting in a room looking off-camera to the left.

Community engagement

Community engagement is critical to the ethical conduct of biomedical research. It promotes respectful and mutually beneficial research as well as relationships of trust and transparency between researchers and communities. As part of Variant Bio’s mission to practice ethically grounded genomics research, we aim to effectively engage every community we partner with – before, during, and after our studies.

Multiple crowds of people in a large open area with a house in the background.

Returning results

At Variant Bio, we believe that study results should be shared first and foremost with the people who shared their data with us. We are committed to addressing past and ongoing legacies of extractive studies by sharing both the benefits and the results of research with participating communities.