Patenting Genomics Innovations: Post-Myriad Challenges and Possibilities

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuhin Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
The United States ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
Myriad Genetics ◽  
The Human Genome Project ◽  
Patent Examination

Patenting gene and its nucleotide sequence has been a controversial subject since the release of working draft of the Human Genome Project. A number of US Supreme Court judgments pronounced in the recent past and accordingly revised patent examination strategies of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) created a huge confusion in the field of biotechnology.The present article explores the volatile nature of judicial decision-making in modern biotechnology arena and attempts to analyze and gauge the practical impact of the landmark judgment of Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad genetics Inc. The present article also reveals how the Myriad judgment changed the USPTO’s long-standing practice of granting patents on isolated DNA molecules and set a new patent-eligibility standard for genes and DNA related innovations.The present article also endeavors to investigate the challenges and possibilities of patenting isolated proteins, sequence homology and protein three-dimensional structure based innovations in post-Myriad US patent regime. 

Revitalizing Difference in the HapMap: Race and Contemporary Human Genetic Variation Research

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Human Genome ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Human Genetic Variation ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Human Genome Project

In 2000, researchers from the Human Genome Project (HGP) proclaimed that the initial sequencing of the human genome definitively proved, among other things, that there was no genetic basis for race. The genetic fact that most humans were 99.9% the same at the level of their DNA was widely heralded and circulated in the English-speaking press, especially in the United States. This pronouncement seemed proof that long-term antiracist efforts to de-biologize race were legitimized by scientific findings. Yet, despite the seemingly widespread acceptance of the social construction of race, post-HGP genetic science has seen a substantial shift toward the use of race variables in genetic research and, according to a number of prominent scholars, is re-invoking the specter of earlier forms of racial science in some rather discomfiting ways. During the past seven years, the main thrust of human genetic research, especially in the realm of biomedicine, has shifted from a concern with the 99.9% of the shared genome — what is thought to make humans alike — towards an explicit focus on the 0.1% that constitutes human genetic variation. Here I briefly explore some of the potential implications of the conceptualization and practice of early 21st century genetic variation research, especially as it relates to questions of race.

scholarly journals Convection Initiation Caused by Heterogeneous Low-Level Jets over the Great Plains

2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (8) ◽  
pp. 2615-2637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua G. Gebauer ◽  
Alan Shapiro ◽  
Evgeni Fedorovich ◽  
Petra Klein
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Nonuniform Heating ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Low Level Jets ◽  
Convection Initiation ◽  
Capping Inversion

AbstractObservations from three nights of the Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) field campaign were used in conjunction with Rapid Refresh model forecasts to find the cause of north–south lines of convection, which initiated away from obvious surface boundaries. Such pristine convection initiation (CI) is relatively common during the warm season over the Great Plains of the United States. The observations and model forecasts revealed that all three nights had horizontally heterogeneous and veering-with-height low-level jets (LLJs) of nonuniform depth. The veering and heterogeneity were associated with convergence at the top-eastern edge of the LLJ, where moisture advection was also occurring. As time progressed, this upper region became saturated and, due to its placement above the capping inversion, formed moist absolutely unstable layers, from which the convergence helped initiate elevated convection. The structure of the LLJs on the CI nights was likely influenced by nonuniform heating across the sloped terrain, which led to the uneven LLJ depth and contributed toward the wind veering with height through the creation of horizontal buoyancy gradients. These three CI events highlight the importance of assessing the full three-dimensional structure of the LLJ when forecasting nocturnal convection over the Great Plains.

Artificial Myocardium: Design Principles and Substratum

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 138-139
Author(s):  
Michael Yost ◽  
Robert Price ◽  
David Simpson ◽  
Louis Terracio
Keyword(s):  
Gap Junctions ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Surgical Techniques ◽  
Disease Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Muscular Tissue ◽  
Cardiac Muscle Cells ◽  
Functional Relationships ◽  
Electrical Pacing

Death and disability due to cardiovascular disease and congenital anomalies remains a significant health problem in the United States. Despite improvements in detection, patient management, surgery and preventative medicine, the quality of life for people who suffer from cardiovascular dysfunction has a major impact on our society. The intact heart is an elaborate three-dimensional structure that insures the orderly propagation of electrical signals coordinating the contraction and relaxation of the ventricular wall. Localized loss of muscular tissue as a result of congenital defect or disease process alters this structural arrangement and impairs overall cardiac function. Conventional surgical techniques cannot begin to adequately restore the subtle structural and functional relationships in the heart. The ability to construct a tissue-engineered prosthesis composed of cardiac muscle cells in a collagen-based scaffold may potentially offer a superior alternative to currently available surgical techniques.A tissue engineered myocardium must have the following components: First, it must develop and maintain the correct cellular phenotype as well as a functioning contractile apparatus of parallel myofibrils, Second it must be able to form gap junctions within itself and with the native tissue and these gap junctions must be competent at conducting electrical pacing as well as other biochemical signals, and Third, it must be capable of participating in and contributing to the rhythmic contraction of normal myocardium as well as accommodate the changes in contraction frequency ubiquitous in the cardiac environment

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis – Future Molecular-Based Diagnostic and Prognostic Testing

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 253-260
Author(s):  
Radoslav Zamborský ◽  
Boris Liščák ◽  
Martin Trepáč ◽  
Andrey Švec ◽  
Ľuboš Danisovič
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis ◽  
Idiopathic Scoliosis ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Appropriate Treatment ◽  
Surgical Treatments ◽  
The Human Genome Project

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a three-dimensional deformity of the spine mainly affecting the younger population. Earlier detection of the disorder leads to appropriate treatment and better outcomes, thus avoiding highly invasive surgical treatments. The currently available tests for the disease identification have lost their reliability and validity with time. In the past few decades, efforts have been directed towards developing a highly reliable prognostic test for AIS. Towards this end, several strategies have been employed including biochemical, biomechanical and gene-based tests. Among the three, the gene-based technology has received much attention in recent past. Notably, this is due to the fact that the human genome project, followed by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), facilitated the identification of candidate genes for disorders like AIS. Several promising biomarker genes have been identified. However, their global validations were disappointing as these genes were shown to be limited to a particular group of people/ethnicities. Such observations limit the development of a reliable global molecular/biochemical test for AIS. The currently used AIS ScoliScoreTM also has several limitations. With continued disappointments in the identification of biomarkers for AIS and lack of appropriate tests, researchers have diverted their efforts towards several alternative avenues. A ray of hope is emerging from recent observations on the association of non-coding microRNAs and epigenetic factors that might arise as future reliable markers for AIS, thus paving the way for appropriate clinical management of this disorder.

Patenting Bioinformatics Innovations: Emerging Trends and Challenges in the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuhin Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
First Century ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
Tools And Techniques ◽  
The Human Genome Project ◽  
Biology Research

Bioinformatics tools and techniques are useful not only to manage and analyze the vast amount of raw biological data generated from various genomics research but also to understand the phenomena of the biological system at the macromolecular level. The development of bioinformatics has come a long way from DNA sequencing tools of the Human Genome Project (HGP) era to DNA circuits and programmable synthetic biological devices in the twenty-first century. The present article attempts to analyze and reveal the emerging trends in bioinformatics and computational biology research and innovation and challenges in patenting them under the current US patent regime.   

Legal Constraints on the Use of Race in Biomedical Research: Toward a Social Justice Framework

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy E. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Racial Categories ◽  
Genomic Studies ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
The Human Genome Project

The scientific validity of racial categories has been the subject of debate among population geneticists, evolutionary biologists, and physical anthropologists for several decades. After World War II, the rejection of eugenics, which had supported sterilization laws and other destructive programs in the United States, generated a compelling critique of the biological basis of race. The classification of human beings into distinct biological “races” is a relatively recent invention propped up by deeply flawed evidence and historically providing the foundation of racist ideology and inequities of power. Social scientists’ conclusion that race is socially constructed was confirmed by genomic studies of human variation, including the Human Genome Project, showing high levels of genetic similarity within the human species. Some scholars came to believe that the science of human genetic diversity would replace race as the preeminent means of grouping people for scientific purposes.

scholarly journals Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approach to Acute Scaphoid Fractures

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (02) ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Fernando Polo Simón ◽  
Belén García Medrano ◽  
Pedro J. Delgado Serrano
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Therapeutic Approach ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Carpal Bone ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Scaphoid Fractures ◽  
Hand Fractures ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Fracture Types

AbstractThe scaphoid is the carpal bone that most often fractures, accounting for up to 70% of carpal fractures and 11% of hand fractures. It is the second most common arm fracture, only surpassed by fractures of the distal radius. Despite being so common, these fractures can be difficult to diagnose and treat due to the anatomic and physiological particularities of the bone, including its precarious vascularization, its complex three-dimensional structure, and its ligament connections, which greatly contribute to the risk of complications such as malunion, pseudoarthrosis and avascular necrosis. Although there are many published studies on the treatment of these injuries, there is still controversy over what is the most suitable one for certain fracture types. The present article is a comprehensive and updated review of the literature. Combining strategies for clinical and radiological diagnosis, we propose a complete algorithm for the diagnosis of scaphoid fractures based on the varying availability of resources, and we also describe the most appropriate therapeutic approach for the different types of acute fractures of this bone.

scholarly journals In-silico analysis of non-synonymous-SNPs of STEAP2: To provoke the progression of prostate cancer

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 402-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naveed ◽  
Sana Tehreem ◽  
Shamsa Mubeen ◽  
Fareeha Nadeem ◽  
Fatima Zafar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prostate Cancer ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
In Silico Analysis ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Coding Region ◽  
Computational Tools ◽  
Epithelial Antigens ◽  
Novel Drug

AbstractAs a novel biomarker from the STEAP family, STEAP2 encodes six transmembrane epithelial antigens to prostate cancer. The overexpression of STEAP2 is predicted as the second most common cancer in the world that is responsible for male cancer-related deaths. Nonsynonymous SNPs are important group of SNPs which lead to alternations in encoded polypeptides. Changes in the amino acid sequence of gene products can lead to abnormal tissue function. The present study firstly sorted out those SNPs which exist in the coding region of STEAP2 and evaluated their impact through computational tools. Secondly, the three-dimensional structure of STEAP2 was formed through I-TASSER and validated by different software. Genomic data has been retrieved from the 1000 Genome project and Ensembl and subsequently analysed using computational tools. Out of 177 non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) within the coding region, 42 mis-sense SNPs have been predicted as deleterious by all analyses. Our research shows a welldesigned computational methodology to inspect the prostate cancer associated nsSNPs. It can be concluded that these nsSNPs can play their role in the up-regulation of STEAP2 which further leads to progression of prostate cancer. It can benefit scientists in the handling of cancerassociated diseases related to STEAP2 through developing novel drug therapies.

scholarly journals Rubrerythrin from Trichomonas vaginalis- structural insights into its mechanism of action

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C821-C821
Author(s):  
Helen Opel-Reading ◽  
Sylvia Luckner ◽  
Ruth Schaller ◽  
Donald Kurtz ◽  
Kurt Krause
Keyword(s):  
Trichomonas Vaginalis ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Kinetic Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Metal Centers ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Important Virulence Factor ◽  
A Charge

Trichomoniasis is a common STD with an estimated prevalence of 4 million infections in the United States. The organism that causes trichomoniasis, Trichomonas vaginalis, is essentially anaerobic and contains proteins such as peroxidases that help detoxify reactive oxygen species in its environment. A unique non-heme peroxidase called rubrerythrin, found in this organism, is homologous to bacterial peroxidases, and is markedly upregulated during oxidative stress. It could represent a target for therapeutic intervention given the importance of an anaerobic environment for this organism's survival. Using protein crystallography, we have determined the three-dimensional structure of two forms of this enzyme, the wild-type rubrerythrin which is reddish in colour and a mutant protein, T48A, which is purple. The genes were cloned and expressed in E. coli and purified using liquid chromatography. Crystallization was carried out using vapor diffusion methods. Following optimization, data sets were collected to 2.2Å at the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne. The phase problem was solved using molecular replacement. Subsequent refinement in Space Group P21212 has yielded a structure with an Rwork/Rfree of 20.6 and 27.3 respectively. The resulting rubrerythrin structure is a dimer of four-helix bundles each containing two metal centers in a geometry and fold very similar to bacterial orthologs. Kinetic studies indicate that it can function as an efficient peroxidase, but only if all sites are occupied by iron. The key to the purple color of the T48A mutant rubrerythrin appears to involve the serendipitous formation of a charge-transfer complex involving the diiron site and a tyrosine, which is facilitated by this mutation. This is the first structure reported of a eukaryotic non-haem iron peroxidase. It is a potentially important virulence factor in T. vaginalis and will serve as a basis for further work to characterize its function within the organism.

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