Informed Consent for Participation in Genetic Studies
By accessing or using the website and/or ordering Silverberry Genomix Co. services (“Silverberry”, “Silverberry Genomix”), you agree to be legally bound by User Consent as follows.
Introduction
Here you will get an overview of the Silverberry Genomix wellness service, how it can benefit you, and the chance to provide your informed consent to voluntarily participate in our wellness studies.
Study Participation and Expectations
We will ask you to participate in the study by performing tasks as simple as answering questions about your exercise habits and/or providing some information about normal diet or other health information.
By answering a few relatively short surveys (3-45 minutes), you will participate in our wellness studies to better understand the correlation between genetic predispositions and actual conditions of the body. During the study, data about your lifestyle and habits will be combined with your genetic data so we can offer more individualized results and actionable recommendations.
With the surveys, you will provide information about your lifestyle such as your diet, your type of fluid intake, and how often you engage in physical activity. The simple tasks like recording the foods you consume or what kind of physical activity you are engaging in are designed to be done over a period of a few days. For example, you may be asked to make a note of what you eat as meals or snacks for a 3-day period.
By participating in the study, you allow us to contact you in future for follow-up surveys. If you decided to opt out from the study, you can email support@silverberrygenomix.com at anytime to be removed from future follow-ups.
Your Genomic Data
You will be asked to provide a DNA sample (your saliva contains this DNA), answer some questions, and perform a few other simple tasks.
Once your order the package you are interested in, you will receive a DNA Testing Kit in the mail. Using the written or online video instructions, you will be guided to simply collect your saliva sample at home and mail it to our lab with our pre-paid package. If you already have genetic data from other services such as Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA or 23andMe, you can simply upload your file when you log into your account at my.silverberrygenomix.com.
Benefits
By participating in the program, you are contributing to genetic study while learning about your genes, how they are impacting your health, and how you can use them to maximize your health and well-being. However you may NOT directly benefit from participating in the study or receive any specific information.
As part of the results, you will be given another layer of information that can guide you in better planning your wellness: items to look at and consider in order to reduce health risks and improve your wellness.
Potential Issues and Risks
Keep in mind that the results may change how you feel, and there is a chance that some questions will make you uncomfortable. You can choose to not answer.
Depending on the package you select, your results can reflect your health risks, fitness potentials, or predisposed personality traits. These could lead to many different emotions. We recommend that you discuss your results with a physician or other certified healthcare professionals before making any major changes to your routines.
Collected Data
The data provided by you will be combined and analyzed by our qualified scientists to give you actionable insight into the impact of your genes on your health.
Your DNA is extracted and analyzed at our partner lab. Combining your genetic data with provided data from other tasks, we will look for the genes and genetic predispositions affecting your health and/or wellness. Your data will also be combined with that of other customers to make new discoveries in the area of genomics science.
Protecting Your Data
We do our best to ensure your data is protected from the point that we collect, analyze, and store it. For instance, we store your information in a secure database and replace your name with a random code not linked to your personal information (also known as protected health information or PHI).
When it comes to handling personal data, although it cannot be 100% guaranteed, we make sure to do our best to follow the greatest practices in the healthcare industry, including Privacy Principles that fall under HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and PHIPAA (Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act – Canada) and GDPR. Visit our Privacy Policy for more details, Privacy Policy . Also make sure you read and agree with Terms of Use, Terms of Use.
Aside legal consideration, at Silverberry we consider ethical and social implications of our study, supervised by our own internal IRB. The Silverberry Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a committee composed of individuals that can provide legal, scientific expertise, nonscientific oversight, and support to ensure both the responsible and an ethical use of genomic data derived from our human participants.
All human studies conducted by Silverberry will comply with federal regulations that protect the rights and welfare of the participants, and require scientists to clarify the benefits and risks of participating in the study through use of Informed Consent. All studies will be subject to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Research Subjects, or ‘Common Rule’ (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Part 46) to ensure the safety of study participants.
Withdrawing
You can withdraw your consent and stop participating at any time.
Although you can withdraw from our studies at any time, since previously submitted answers are anonymized and cannot be traced back to each participant, it will remain as part of current or future studies.
Questions?
For questions about Silverberry Genomix and its services, contact:
support@silverberrygenomix.com
415-598-9070