What is ELSA genomics?

Abstract

The name Elsa might arouse various literary associations, from the female lead in Richard Wagner's (1813–1883) Lohengrin , to the wealthy socialite, Countess Elsa Schrader, in the musical The Sound of Music . This article, however, discusses a rather more recent personification of the name, ELSA as an acronym, which describes a particular field, or rather, a particular style of research that has emerged during the past two decades. > Some see ELSA as an ‘artefact’ of contemporary research funding strategies; a neologism coined for strategic reasons, but in need of a clear definition Research into the ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA) or issues (ELSI) of genetics, and later genomics, was originally developed in the context of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in the USA, from where it subsequently spread to Canada and Europe—it is important to emphasize the genealogy of ELSA genomics as a ‘by‐product’ of the HGP. It was James Watson himself who, as the first Director of the HGP, decided that some of the project's budget should be devoted to studying the societal issues related to genetics research and its applications. At the press conference to announce his appointment as director, Watson suddenly and unexpectedly declared that the ethical and social implications of genome research warranted a special effort and should be funded directly by the US National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA), which financed the larger part of the human genome sequencing effort (Cook‐Deegan, 1994/1995). Watson argued that, in the face of unprecedented challenges presented by modern biological research, the ‘contract’ between science and society was bound to be revisited by the large‐scale application of genomics research. Thus, in addition to discovering the structure of DNA together with Francis Crick, Watson can also be credited with ‘inventing’ ELSA and providing the impetus for what came …