Open Source Biology Initiative

Nick dos Remedios writes "The Biological Innovation for Open Society (BIOS) initiative aims to make biological technology more readily available to biologists everywhere. The latest genetics and biology tools should be freely available to researchers over the internet, but instead access is typically restricted by commercial patents and prohibitive licensing fees. BIOS and its associated BioForge aims to overcome these restrictions to innovation by encouraging companies and public sector research organizations to contribute their research tools and technologies to the BioForge repository. In return, users of the technology are bound by an open source license to share all improvements with the original inventors and other license holders."

Comments

ummm

[usernotfound]

In my opinion, all research should be this way in fields that are directly related to the betterment of our health. Who would object?

Re:ummm

[quamaretto]

In my opinion, all research should be this way in fields that are directly related to the betterment of our health. Who would object?

The same people who would object to the betterment of our computers, e.g.:

• Those who have direct financial interests in the information
• Those who have indirect financial interests in the information, via it's distribution and use by others and the resulting "open market" of ideas and products

Patents

[gowen]

Sadly, the most pressing problem isn't the availabilty of biological tools, but the fact that researchers are being allowed to gain patents on their genome sequences, even though such people as The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) are against it. They've no problem with patented gene therapies, but patenting the genes themselves is just a horrible thing for cutting edge science.