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.   

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.

Bio-Inspired Algorithms in Bioinformatics I

2011 ◽  
pp. 236-240
Author(s):  
José Antonio Seoane Fernández ◽  
Mónica Miguélez Rico
Keyword(s):  
Human Genome ◽  
Heterogeneous Data ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Proteomic Data ◽  
New Information ◽  
Cell Tissue ◽  
The Human Genome Project

Large worldwide projects like the Human Genome Project, which in 2003 successfully concluded the sequencing of the human genome, and the recently terminated Hapmap Project, have opened new perspectives in the study of complex multigene illnesses: they have provided us with new information to tackle the complex mechanisms and relationships between genes and environmental factors that generate complex illnesses (Lopez, 2004; Dominguez, 2006). Thanks to these new genomic and proteomic data, it becomes increasingly possible to develop new medicines and therapies, establish early diagnoses, and even discover new solutions for old problems. These tasks however inevitably require the analysis, filtration, and comparison of a large amount of data generated in a laboratory with an enormous amount of data stored in public databases, such as the NCBI and the EBI. Computer sciences equip biomedicine with an environment that simplifies our understanding of the biological processes that take place in each and every organizational level of live matter (molecular level, genetic level, cell, tissue, organ, individual, and population) and the intrinsic relationships between them. Bioinformatics can be described as the application of computational methods to biological discoveries (Baldi, 1998). It is a multidisciplinary area that includes computer sciences, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and statistics. The three main tasks of bioinformatics are the following: develop algorithms and mathematical models to test the relationships between the members of large biological datasets, analyze and interpret heterogeneous data types, and implement tools that allow the storage, retrieve, and management of large amounts of biological data.

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.

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. 

4. The human genome in biology and medicine

2018 ◽  
pp. 44-58
Author(s):  
John Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Human Genome ◽  
Human Genome Project ◽  
Nuclear Dna ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
Human Genome Sequencing ◽  
The Human Genome Project

The initial phase of human genome sequencing is often referred to as ‘the’ Human Genome Project. But there were two different projects, one publicly funded, the other supported by a private company, Craig Venter’s Celera Genomics. ‘The human genome in biology and medicine’ explains that both projects used DNA samples from more than one person. It was not until 2007 that the first genome of a single individual was published. The structure of the nuclear DNA and mitochondrial genome is also described. Genomics research is having a profound impact on our understanding of the genetic, biochemical, and cell biological underpinnings of cancer, and how it can be detected and treated.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuko Suzuki ◽  
Diego A. von Vacano
Keyword(s):  
Human Genome ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Future Study ◽  
Human Genome Project ◽  
Clinton Administration ◽  
Genome Project ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
New Race ◽  
The Human Genome Project

This conclusion discusses a shift in genomics scholarship from disinterest in race to a commitment to understanding race. It describes the issues and misconceptions emerging from this new race-related genomics research. Most of the writers in the field of race and genomics have slowly but inevitably come to the realization that, as social scientists have long known, the disconnect between the data produced by scientific studies and the way these results are interpreted and appropriated by the general public has all the allure of cognitive dissonance. Most scholars start the story of this disconnect with the advent of the very public Human Genome Project under the Clinton administration. The discoveries of the Human Genome Project failed to completely transcend race. After examining both Western and non-Western cases, this chapter illuminates six main points related to the genomics-race interface that should be highlighted in the future study of this area.

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