Category: Genetics
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Monsanto, free genes, lucky crops.
In a unanimous decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court backed the agribusiness firm Monsanto on its soybean patents. The justices concluded that an Indiana farmer, Vernon Hugh Bowman, violated the company's intellectual property rights when he refused to pay royalties on unlabeled soybeans he bought that contained genes patented by the company. The court ruled…
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Angelina Jolie, gene terrorism, stupidity. (and some advertisement)
Angelina Jolie, known for being fiercely private, has made a very personal disclosure. The Oscar-winning (REALLY?!?) actress reveals in an emotional op-ed for the New York Times that she underwent a double mastectomy earlier this year after a blood test showed she was genetically susceptible to cancer. "The truth is I carry a 'faulty' gene, BRCA1,…
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Genome patents, Stupidity patents?
The US Supreme Court has heard arguments questioning whether the human genome can be claimed as intellectual property. The case relates to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2009, and centres on whether companies should be able to patent genes. US authorities have been awarding patents on genes to universities and medical companies…
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Learning, DSB, DNA...
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that a certain type of DNA damage long thought to be particularly detrimental to brain cells can actually be part of a regular, non-harmful process. [1] Scientists have long known that DNA damage occurs in every cell, accumulating as we age. But a particular type of DNA damage,…
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Science is choosing the HARD way...
HeLa cells are the world's most commonly used human cell lines, and have served as a standard for understanding many fundamental biological processes. In a study published today in G3: Genes, Genomes and Genetics online, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, announce they have successfully sequenced the genome of a HeLa cell…
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