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Rare Sharing of Data Led To Results In Alzheimer's Research

Posted by Soulskill on from the never-forget dept.

jamie passes along a story in the NY Times about how an unprecedented level of openness and data-sharing among scientists involved in the study of Alzheimer's disease has yielded a wealth of new research papers and may become the template for making progress in dealing with other afflictions. Quoting: "The key to the Alzheimer's project was an agreement as ambitious as its goal: not just to raise money, not just to do research on a vast scale, but also to share all the data, making every single finding public immediately, available to anyone with a computer anywhere in the world. No one would own the data. No one could submit patent applications, though private companies would ultimately profit from any drugs or imaging tests developed as a result of the effort. 'It was unbelievable,' said Dr. John Q. Trojanowski, an Alzheimer's researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. 'It's not science the way most of us have practiced it in our careers. But we all realized that we would never get biomarkers unless all of us parked our egos and intellectual-property noses outside the door and agreed that all of our data would be public immediately.'"

11 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. This is real science. by Raelus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Stop trying to replace it with a capitalistic mockery of science.

    --
    "It is the stillest words which bring the storm. Thoughts that come with doves' footsteps guide the world."
    1. Re:This is real science. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is one of the reasons the field of astronomy has made such amazing advances. There is no money to be made in figuring out how the universe works so everyone is very open about their work.

    2. Re:This is real science. by AltairDusk · · Score: 5, Funny

      FITLER THIS!

      Fitler? Did Hitler buy a gym?

    3. Re:This is real science. by TheEyes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The patent craziness.

      For some bizarre reason, the US, the EU, and many other places have decided that it's okay to patent basic concepts: human and animal genes, business methods, math (also known as software patents), etc, rather than the end-stage products that patents were originally meant to cover. As a result, many fields of innovation are grinding to a halt, as people scramble to place roadblocks and paywalls across the road of innovation. Biology can't go anywhere because dozens of different groups have patents on basic testing procedures and even the genes themselves. Computer programmers can't get anywhere because programming has become a minefield, where bits arranged in certain ways can suddenly see you being sued for millions of dollars.

      The moment the walls are lowered, even for a short period in a limited field, great things can be accomplished in a short amount of time, but the exceptions will remain exceptions if the non-innovators keep thinking there's profit to be made in continual delay.

    4. Re:This is real science. by bunratty · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Back when Tycho Brahe refused to give Kepler access to his observations of the night sky and Darwin didn't publish his ideas until decades after he first had them. And when Mendel fudged his data about heredity and Millikan threw away data he didn't like about the charge of an electron. Oh, wait.

      --
      What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
    5. Re:This is real science. by Atrox666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Since public sharing of information saves lives, not sharing is tanamount to murder or at least negligent homicide.

      Intellectual Property kills.

    6. Re:This is real science. by xMilkmanDanx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      +9000

      all fundamental science should NEVER be patentable. mother nature has prior art

      --
      I am not in anyway affiliated with Max Cannon
    7. Re:This is real science. by immakiku · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In those cases the reasons are all personal, whereas now the hiding and protecting of research seems codified into our society.

  2. This is great news, and a great step forward. by Red_Chaos1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now all we need is for this to become the norm.

    Quite frankly I don't understand how it has been allowed for things like genes and sequences and such to be patented, and I think the notion that such things can be patented is ridiculous. But who am I, other some peon somewhere, right?

    1. Re:This is great news, and a great step forward. by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

      But who am I, other some peon somewhere, right?

      Actually, according to my cursory scan, you're a collection of Patented Nucleotide Sequences #47862, #32981, #441998, and #90210. A representative will be by shortly to either receive payment or present you with a Cease and Desist Existing order, and to conduct a more thorough scan for additional IP violations.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  3. Almost like an Onion article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Scientists attempt to actually better society, are surprised to find that it works"