A federal judge's decision Monday to strike down several patents on human genes could ultimately be a boon for genetic research and a benefit for public health, medical experts said.

The ruling adds legal weight to the argument by some geneticists and others that companies and institutions shouldn't be allowed to patent basic genetic information that makes people human.

Photo Researchers, Inc.

A human chromosome bears genetic information.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet invalidated seven patents covering the BRCA1 and 2 genes linked to hereditary forms of cancer that were licensed exclusively to Myriad Genetics Inc., Salt Lake City, by the University of Utah Research Foundation. Myriad says it plans to appeal.

The decision's near-term impact on companies that develop and market gene-based tests and treatments is likely to be limited, in part because most rely on patents that protect their drugs, not specific gene sequences.

And Peter Meldrum, Myriad's chief executive, said the litigation involves only seven of the company's 23 patents related to BRCA genes.

Patents for human genes, or DNA sequences found in the body, have been controversial since they were first issued. According to U.S. law, products of nature cannot be patented because they are pre-existing substances found in the wild.

"The idea that our ability to look at them, to analyze them, to utilize them would be constrained by the issue of a patent strikes many people viscerally," said James Evans, chairman of a federal task force on the effect of gene patents on diagnostics and patient care. "Genes represent something we see as quite fundamental to who we are."

When companies hold exclusive licenses for human genes, competition to develop gene-based applications can be restricted, prices inflated and innovation slowed, some geneticists say.

Academic research has also been impeded, though to a lesser extent, by companies who want to protect their intellectual property, they add.

"If this decision is upheld, it in the end is a win for patients and providers," said Dr. Evans, also a medical geneticist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

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Lawyers say the ruling could give rise to challenges over patents that cover the links between genetic sequences and various medical conditions, such as hearing loss and Alzheimer's disease.

Judge Sweet's ruling, lawyers say, reflects a broader trend of judges taking a more skeptical view about whether certain subject matters can be patented.

Last year, in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case, many of the justices on the court expressed skepticism about whether there should be broad patent protection for financial strategies and other methods of doing business.

 

pCubee: A Perspective-Corrected Handheld Cubic Display. Image credit: University of British Columbia

After a wave of 3D movies such as Alice in Wonderland and Avatar, and a number of television manufacturers producing 3D TVs this year, there is growing interest in a three-dimensional viewing experience. The usual 3D technology uses a stereoscopic principle in which a slightly different image is presented to each eye, thanks to the special glasses the viewer has to wear. Now a device named pCubee gives you the experience of 3D without the need for the glasses.

The pCubee consists of five LCD screens arranged as a cubic “fish tank” box that viewers can pick up, tilt, shake or turn to watch the 3D content or play games with virtual objects that seem to be within the box. Instead of stereoscopy, the device uses a principle called motion parallax, which is one of the means by which we usually perceive depth in a three dimensional scene. Motion parallax is a cue the brain is able to use to sense depth, because the movements of objects across our field of view depends on their relative distance from us. Having the box move means viewers do not need to move their heads to see the effect.

pCubee: a Perspective-Corrected Handheld Cubic Display

The five flat-panel LCD screens on the sides of the box are driven by three graphics pipelines. The perspective rendered on the screens is kept synchronized with the user’s view by a motion tracker that monitors both the user’s head and the pCubee box. That, and the real-time physics simulation engine, make the display look like a tank containing real objects. The box allows you to view a static 3D scene, or you can manipulate the box to navigate through the scene or play with objects colliding in the scene. You can also manipulate virtual objects using a stylus.

pCubee was developed at the Human Communication Technologies Laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Leader of the engineering team, Sidney Fels, said the group wanted to offer “a fish-tank-like experience” in a handheld device. Fels hopes the pCubee will be commercially available soon, but the researchers are continuing to refine the design, and may replace the current LCD panels with OLED screens. They are also building pCubees in different sizes for different applications.

The pCubee will have many more applications than 3D games, since it also has the potential to become a CAD-CAM platform, and could be used in museum displays. It was awarded Best Demonstration at the 2009 ACM International Conference on Multimedia in Beijing.                  

Violinist Robert Gupta joined the LA Philharmonic iat the age of 19 -- and maintains a passionate parallel interest in neurobiology and mental health issues. He's a 2010 TED Fellow. He made his solo debut, at age 11, with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. He's got a master's in music from Yale. But his undergraduate degree? Pre-med. As an undergrad, Gupta was part of several research projects in neuro- and neurodegenerative biology. He held Research Assistant positions at CUNY Hunter College in New York City, where he worked on spinal cord neuronal regeneration, and at the Harvard Institutes of Medicine Center for Neurologic Diseases, where he studied the biochemical pathology of Parkinson's disease. Gupta is passionate about education and outreach, both as a musician and as an activist for mental health issues. He has the privilege of working with Nathaniel Ayers, the brilliant, schizophrenic musician featured in "The Soloist," as his violin teacher.