Project 1:
Seminal Genomic Technologies
Some cases address technologies that were never patented and widely shared through publication and scientific and technical networks, many of which proved important not only in science but also in developing commercial products and services (e.g.,Sanger-Coulson and Maxam-Gilbert DNA sequencing methods, or the pBR322 cloning vector). Others involve patented technologies that were widely adopted in science and commerce, through nonexclusive licensing and other strategies (e.g., Cohen-Boyer recombinant DNA, Wigler-Silverstein-Axel cotransformation, and polymerase chain reaction). Yet others involve technologies championed by startup firms. In some cases, seminal patents were owned by the firm (e.g., Affymetrix and DNA chips) and in other cases, academic institutions gave exclusive licenses to the startup (e.g., Tufts University and Illumina for bead-array technology).
The case studies that are furthest along and have lead to articles, book chapters, theses or other forms of publication include:
- The Southern Blot and Oxford Genetic Technologies role in microarray technology
In 1973, Edwin Southern invented a method of easily transferring fragments of DNA from gels to filter paper, later called the Southern Blot. He did not patent this discovery, but he later patented key components of a microarray chip used for expression profiling. - Polymerase Chain Reaction (Cetus Corporation)
In 1983, Kary Mullis of Cetus Corporation discovered a way to create billions of copies of a segment of DNA in mere hours. He later patented this discovery, and it is still used in scientific labs worldwide. - Affymetrix and DNA chips (Tim Lenoir)
This paper tracks the emergence and diffusion of DNA microarray technology. - Licensing of the Cohen-Boyer recombinant DNA patents (Stanford and UCSF)
In 1980, Stanford University was granted a patent on recombinant DNA, an invention vital to the beginning of the biotechnology industry. Stanford licensed the technology to over 450 companies and earned over $250M in royalties. - Licensing of the Wigler-Silverstein-Axel cotransformation patents (Columbia)
In 1983, Richard Axel, Saul Silverstein, and Michael Wigler received a patent on a method of recombining DNA in eukaryotic cells. It earned Columbia University nearly $800M in royalties. - Illumina and the development of bead-array high-throughput genotyping (Tufts)
David Walt, a Tufts research scientist, patented a method of high-throughput genotyping. The exclusively licensed patents were the basis of the start-up company Illumina Inc., which went public in July 2000.
Several other lines of research have produced useful data but have not led to independent publications, usually because there is not significant “news” in the story. The story of a DNA sequencing technology patented by Purdue University in 1973, for example, is instructive about a technology that never really found practical application despite investment in patenting and licensing. The early stories of cloning insulin and human growth hormone update and supplement the story told by Stephen Hall in Invisible Frontiers and may contribute to the forthcoming history of Genentech and the birth of biotechnology in the San Francisco Bay Area by Berkeley historian Sally Smith Hughes. The abandonment of patents for making Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism did not prevent the technique from becoming important in the early history of the Human Genome Project, and it also illustrates some pitfalls of academic institutional patenting. Research on unpatented sequencing methods and cloning vectors yields insights into how norms of academic molecular biology changed from general ignorance of or revulsion to patenting in the mid-1970s, to acceptance of the value of patenting by at least some academic scientists a decade later.