ok shoot, so what else can be done to improve the situation besides making IP-free reporters & actuators? I don't know enough about how the cells themselves are controlled
of course! but being distributed by Addgene != being completely free of IP concerns. They just handle the MTA. Dream is zero MTAs, zero restrictions, zero profits.
ah so if the reporters, actuators, CRISPR, etc. tools were themselves uncoupled the lines would as well? so it's not in the means of creation of the lines? Otherwise seems like focusing on the reagents solves this problem too, just later?
and related fields - are FPs an IP problem at all these days? I thought most of those had expired and/or had freely available equivalents. Is this not the case?
hey @eqvanalytics.bsky.social have you encountered any problems using our stuff for free? please call us out if you have, I'd love to know. I am unaware of anyone having problems freely & easily using our stuff.
have ppl encountered any IP problems getting to use any of the tools we've made? GCaMP? RCaMP, SnFRs, AAVretro, etc.? we tried to make access trivial and cheap. but if there are problems, please let me know. we could try to break patents on all those to make shareware versions, if this is a problem
I love the pushback, seriously. call me out if I'm full of shit.
and my philosophy of how such an organization would work would be to patent things, give free licenses to non-profits, and figure out what to do with for-profit orgs. Idea would be to not make any $ from patents, or if there was minimal to funnel it back into patent-breaking research.
That's the plan! To state my philosophy, and that of HHMI, I patent everything we do to protect access, and then give all academics free access. I will continue doing this in the space where I already have patents, and I want to expand into other spaces.
can you please be more specific about which exact steps of iPSC generation are IP-constrained?
I guess it could be funded in an ad hoc manner - e.g., some entity that wants access to new AAV vectors funds that work, a Parkinson's foundation funds breaking patents on progress-inhibiting antibodies in that space, etc. etc.
a PROPOSED Robin Hood. but Robin Hood is convening a focus group to make sure that targets are chosen rationally. and then obviously funding is a real conundrum. Does anyone know people that would like to fund such an effort? It would, by definition, not be a money-making endeavor.
ok apparently RNAi, CAR-T have big thickets too
and I think it's time to fight back. are there patent thickets in the climate / environmental remediation space? those would be of particular interest since there's none of this other crap on a dead planet. please RT and provide your favorite patent thickets that need breaking.
Ideal targets would be amenable to patent breaking by protein design and engineering. Obv there would be lots of industry resistance - and likely from other sources, like universities that don't want patent revenue endangered. but IMHO patents clearly do much more harm than good, 3/
fusion polymerases, inducible expression systems, some sequencing stuff. what else? apparently these are called "patent thickets." worst historical examples include antibodies, which were utterly destroyed for decades by corporate greed. BRCA1/2 greed killed 1000s of women. Golden rice. Celera. 2/
hey team! I need advice! If there were theoretically an organization whose sole purpose was to systematically identify and break nuisance and stupid IP in the biomedical space, creating shareware equivalents, what would be the highest value targets? e.g., AAV serotypes, antibodies, CRISPR, 1/n
Nice! Thanks @lintianphd.bsky.social @loogerl.bsky.social @michaelzlin.bsky.social @rhodamine110.bsky.social Eric Schreiter + many other engineers for in vivo neuro.
Also: Thanks to the virus and transgenic engineers, like @hongkuizeng.bsky.social Viviana Gradinaru, Josh Huang, etc. 1/2
Thanks to @nature.com for featuring our work in this piece on genetically-encoded sensors.
The article does a great job highlighting their importance for both basic research and translational impact, such as in our lab's research on serotonin.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
On the latest ep of the Climate Biotech Podcast, hear how synthetic biology legend @loogerl.bsky.social is turning his protein engineering expertise to developing tools to study methane monooxygenase, an enzyme that could unlock methane removal.
Listen in: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
My absolute privilege to be interviewed by @homeworld.bsky.social: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/.... we talk methane, brains, tools, Alabama, you know - all the things. this is a fun and insightful podcast series. and HW is really getting it done in the granting/research space! check them out!
what do ppl think is going to happen to this 6 NIH grant app maximum? will it stick? how are people interpreting the whole co-PI vs MPI thing?
Thanks to Garden Grant co-funders
@sparkclimate.bsky.social sky.social and @granthamcsf.bsky.social, and to Quadrature Climate Foundation for making this possible through programmatic and regranting support.
so proud of this team!!! they're changing the way grants are sought, written, and funded. and such critical work - greenhouse gases this cycle, focused on methane. they funded us (+ Michael Konopka, USNA) to study methane monooxygenase (pMMO), potentially the key to remediating methane pollution.
ok rumors were true all along: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
steady slide into fascism.
what are ppl hearing about US-based researchers with foreign citizenship? I am hearing rumors that they are being targeted now. Sounds laughable but all too real in this hellhole
GABA imaging classifies amacrine cell types in mouse retina! Aki and
@keisukeyonehara.bsky.social
are amazing! future goals include Gly imaging, 2-color Glu/GABA, more complete scRNA-seq/MERFISH mapped onto functional classes.
Super-fun collaboration! @janeliagenie.bsky.social
ouch, I'm so sorry. but yes, consistent with I'm hearing. Most disconcertingly, it wasn't even CURRENT intl collabs; PREVIOUS intl collabs seemed enough to kill it. Very chilling.
I don't know yet but will ask
hey, what are ppl hearing about NIH/NSF grants with international collaborators? A colleague has their NIH grant withheld bc it had intl collabs. are other ppl hearing this? any place to find info on this? thanks!
I think about this map a lot.
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/201...
