van der Laan, Anna Laura

Research profile

At December 1st 2009, I started to work as a PhD-student at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Twente. My project is part of the larger NWO-project ‘Responsible early diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease’ (project leader: dr. Marianne Boenink). This project aims to contribute to the design of a responsible practice for Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics, focussing on the question how to respond to the uncertainties in innovation of AD diagnostics. My research part concerns the responsible translation practices in the development of novel Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics. When data generated by new diagnostic tools are translated to scientific knowledge and clinically relevant results, there are a lot of uncertainties to be dealt with. How is this done? Which criteria and procedures are used in the scientific practices concerned? Does the way researchers deal with these uncertainties lead to clinically relevant and morally and socially acceptable applications? In addressing these kind of questions I will take into account the perceptions and opinions of all potential stakeholders in the Netherlands as well as in the UK.