Principal investigators and members of their research team cannot consent subjects who are members of the Principal Investigator’s lab or students in any of their classes. Such consent must be obtained by a third-party who cannot be in any way involved in the study. The third party however, must have completed human subjects training, have full knowledge of the proposed research procedures, be only engaged in the protocol to obtain informed consent, and be listed on the approved protocol as the person/entity obtaining informed consent. The Principal Investigator must designate the third party in their COUHES application.
The MIT Center for Clinical and Translational Research can be a third party for the purposes of obtaining consent when students or lab members are recruited as subjects for their principal investigator or professor.