CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Proposal Submission Deadline: July 15, 2009
Full Chapter Submission Deadline: September 30, 2009

Genomics and Bioethics:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Technologies and Advancements

A book edited by Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

To be published by IGI Global:
http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=641

Introduction
Today's world is one in which science and technology play an essential role in
almost every aspect of life. Almost all of the changes that are taking place are
due to advances in science and technology, as can be seen in the emergence of
the Internet, which has enabled information to explode exponentially in the past
few years, and biotechnology, which has made such scenarios as human cloning and
genetic manipulation of organisms an everyday reality.

Nowadays the two technologies are being seamlessly merged together. Genetic
information technology, made possible by the use of information technology in
the life sciences, has created a number of ethical and social concerns. It seems
now that plants and animals, indeed potentially all organisms, are malleable to
the needs and desires of human beings. The human genome sequence, perhaps what
constitutes the essence of human beings, is now no more than a piece of
information that can be stored and manipulated by computers, not unlike other
types of data such as house registrations and health records.

This merging of information and biological technologies has created a whole host
of questions related to its social, ethical, cultural, economic and legal
contexts. What is most interesting is how one could understand these social and
ethical ramifications in the context of the world's cultures and historical
traditions. The voluminous literature on the ethical, social and legal aspects
of life sciences and biotechnology show that there is indeed a very large
variety of problems related to the social and cultural contexts of science and
technology. However, what is lacking in this literature is a sustained effort to
comprehend the complex range of questions and issues that emerge when these
scientific and technological advancements have found a way to the socio-cultural
fabric of the world's cultures, including, but not limited to, Asian, African,
and European societies, cultures and communities.

Thus, chapter proposals for the book, entitled Genomics and Bioethics:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Technologies and Advancements, are being called
in order to fulfill this lacuna.

Objective of the Book
The objective of the book is thus to contribute to the existing gap in
interdisciplinary research on comparative studies of cultural, social and
ethical implications of genomics and bioinformatics. The focus will be ethical,
social, cultural, and legal implications of genetics, genomics and genetic
databanking as they are related to concrete cultural and historical traditions.

Target Audience
The book should be of interest to a wide range of researchers and academics, due
to its interdisciplinary and integrative feature. Philosophers, sociologists,
anthropologists, scholars in area studies, computer scientists, biologists,
geneticists, health care professionals, and policy makers, among others, should
find this book useful for their work and research. The book could be a very good
textbook for students in a variety of fields as well, including genomics,
bioethics, bioinformatics, philosophy and others.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Cultural or religious perspectives on genomics, bioinformatics, databanking
• Legal perspectives from various countries on these issues
• Genetic privacy
• Property rights and personality rights in genomics and bioinformatics
• The role of informed consent
• Comparative studies of biobanking
• Genomic, bioinformatics and biobanking in developing countries


Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before July 15, 2009,
a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his
or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by July
31, 2009 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full
chapters are expected to be submitted by September 30, 2009. All submitted
chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also
be requested to serve as reviewers for this project. Additional information
regarding this publication can also be found at
http://www.stc.arts.chula.ac.th/Genomics/

Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.),
publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group
Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference" and "IGI Publishing"
imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit
http://www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in
late 2010.

Important Dates
July 15, 2009: Proposal Submission Deadline
July 31, 2009: Notification of Acceptance
September 30, 2009: Full Chapter Submission
November 15, 2009: Review Results Returned
December 15, 2009: Revised Chapter Submission
January 15, 2010: Final Acceptance Notification


Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (MS Word or OpenOffice
document) to:
Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts
CHULALONGKORN UNIVERSITY, BANGKOK, THAILAND
Tel.: +66(0)2218 4756 • Fax: +66(0)2218 4755
E-mail: hsoraj@...
Book website: http://www.stc.arts.chula.ac.th/Genomics/