Nobody can (yet) patent a sequence itself - nobody is even lobbying for this. Actually, companies like Incyte and Human Genome Sciences have been submitting patents for years on what amounts to little more than raw or nearly-raw mRNA sequences. SOme of them have even been awarded. F'r instance, Human Genome Sciences patented the mRNA sequence of a human gene that they/suspected/ of being a cell-surface receptor based on little more than some computer models... heck, they didn't even get the sequence 100% correct. Several years later, groups working on HIV discovered this gene completely independently and named it CCR5... only after they figured that it is a key coreceptor involved in the entry of the HIV virus into a T-cell. Who do/you/ think the patent should be awarded to, the researchers who figured out specifically what the gene does in the context of a T-cell and HIV infection, or the sequencer jocks who knew almost nothing about it & couldn't even be bothered to get their sequence right? Patents based on sequence data alone are obscene, especially given the relative ease with which any decently funded biotech company, using standard techniques, can study a gene of interest. I hope this one goes to court, and I hope Incyte gets sent home with its tail between its legs.
(spoiler!) hmm..the residential car chase looked like it would have garnered a few calls to 911, the train stunt a/response/ from 911, and the wreck at least 30 grand in lost property value. Either these filmmakers got permits or they likely went to jail. That, and the cost of the wrecked vehicles couldn't have been cheap. I'm very curious: did they get permits/permissions to do these things? If so, how much does something like this cost? If the filmmakers are (still) reading, care to clue us in on the logistics?
Slashdot Mirror
is his name Mao?
nothing like a good kernel vulnerability to bring out all those low UID posters!
-R'
a nanocurie would be 1E-9, a picocurie is 1E-12.
a pCi is ~2.2 dpm, so x 6 x 70,000 would be 933,240 dpm per adult male mass equivalent, or 1.55 x 10(4) dps
-Rain'
this thread, and the replies to it, is the best thing I've read on Slashdot, ever.
-Rain'
Nobody can (yet) patent a sequence itself - nobody is even lobbying for this. Actually, companies like Incyte and Human Genome Sciences have been submitting patents for years on what amounts to little more than raw or nearly-raw mRNA sequences. SOme of them have even been awarded. F'r instance, Human Genome Sciences patented the mRNA sequence of a human gene that they /suspected/ of being a cell-surface receptor based on little more than some computer models... heck, they didn't even get the sequence 100% correct. Several years later, groups working on HIV discovered this gene completely independently and named it CCR5... only after they figured that it is a key coreceptor involved in the entry of the HIV virus into a T-cell. Who do /you/ think the patent should be awarded to, the researchers who figured out specifically what the gene does in the context of a T-cell and HIV infection, or the sequencer jocks who knew almost nothing about it & couldn't even be bothered to get their sequence right? Patents based on sequence data alone are obscene, especially given the relative ease with which any decently funded biotech company, using standard techniques, can study a gene of interest. I hope this one goes to court, and I hope Incyte gets sent home with its tail between its legs.
(spoiler!) hmm..the residential car chase looked like it would have garnered a few calls to 911, the train stunt a /response/ from 911, and the wreck at least 30 grand in lost property value. Either these filmmakers got permits or they likely went to jail. That, and the cost of the wrecked vehicles couldn't have been cheap. I'm very curious: did they get permits/permissions to do these things? If so, how much does something like this cost? If the filmmakers are (still) reading, care to clue us in on the logistics?