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. 2025 Dec;25(12):4-18.
doi: 10.1080/15265161.2025.2554770. Epub 2025 Sep 23.

The Genetic Data Market: Institutional Governance of Academic/Industry Research Partnerships for the Public Good

Kayte Spector-Bagdady  1
Affiliations

The Genetic Data Market: Institutional Governance of Academic/Industry Research Partnerships for the Public Good

Kayte Spector-Bagdady. Am J Bioeth. 2025 Dec.

Abstract

The Trump Administration's cuts to research funding and opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion is destabilizing academic research. These attacks coincide with pointed government support for the private sector. But the conceptualization of academic versus private sector health research has historically been a false binary. Drawing on mixed methods research, this paper examines the genomic data market as an example of advantages and challenges of commercializing academic expertise. It also highlights the structural downsides of researchers individually navigating industry partnerships. While academia is currently being put in the unenviable position of being more likely to need the private sector to conduct research, with less federal funding to offer in exchange, structural pain points have existed for decades. This is an opportunity for academia to harness its powers of expertise and collective action to develop institutional policy to ensure academic/industry research is beneficial to the public health and diverse patient communities.

Keywords: AI; Genetics; data; industry; public/private partnerships.

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Conflict of interest statement

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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