{"id":100835,"date":"2017-01-16T10:32:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T15:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/?p=100835"},"modified":"2017-01-16T07:33:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T12:33:32","slug":"gene-editing-crispr-patent-dispute-cant-slow-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2017\/01\/gene-editing-crispr-patent-dispute-cant-slow-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene Editing: CRISPR Patent Dispute Can\u2019t Slow Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"
January 16, 2017<\/div>
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By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a> \"Gene<\/p>\n

CRISPR-Cas9 is the big name in gene-editing technology, and there\u2019s an ongoing patent dispute holding up potentially millions \u2014 even billions \u2014 in new business. But researchers continue to find new ways to make us better, stronger, faster\u2026<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

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We\u2019re still waiting for a decision that could determine who profits from the most important biotechnology innovation of the century.<\/p>\n

The University of California, Berkeley and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard conducted oral arguments before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office\u2019s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on December 6, 2016.<\/p>\n

At issue is which inventor or inventors were \u201cfirst to invent\u201d CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)\u00a0gene-editing technology by \u201creducing the concept to practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no telling how the PTAB will rule. We do know that there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.<\/p>

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CRISPR \u2014 \u201cmolecular scissors\u201d that trim unwanted parts of the genome and replace them with new sections of DNA \u2014 have almost limitless biomedical, pharmaceutical, and agricultural applications.<\/p>\n

Despite this litigation, time marches on.<\/p>\n

And CRISPR continue to make big news.<\/p>\n

As ScienceDaily reported on January 11, \u201cScientists have performed the first all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of Cas9-catalyzed DNA cleavage in action. The simulations shed light on the process of Cas9 genome editing and helped resolve controversies about specific aspects of the cutting.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CRISPR \u2014 \u201cmolecular scissors\u201d that trim unwanted parts of the genome and replace them with new sections of DNA \u2014 have almost limitless biomedical, pharmaceutical, and agricultural applications.<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Equally exciting is news that researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have discovered \u201ca way to inactivate the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system\u201d using \u201cnewly identified bacteriophage proteins.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported by Sci-News on January 3:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe newly discovered anti-CRISPR proteins could help resolve both problems, enabling more precise control in CRISPR applications, but also providing a fail-safe to quickly block any potentially harmful uses of the technology,\u201d said lead author Dr. Joseph Bondy-Denomy, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at the University of California, San Francisco <\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There remains the major, threshold question: Do we really want this type of technology?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question that Jim Kozubek, author of Modern Prometheus: Editing the Human Genome With Crispr-Cas9<\/em> takes up in a January 9 essay for Time<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Kozubek writes:<\/p>\n

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There are no superior genes. Genes have a long and layered history, and they often have three or four unrelated functions, which balance against each other under selection. Those risky variants that can, in the right scenario, say, make us better at numbers are actually helpful<\/em> to remain in the population in low frequencies. Indeed, versions of hundreds of genes that predispose us to psychiatric risks remain in the population at stable rates, while autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia each occur at about 1% \u2014 hinting at a tradeoff of risk for advantage.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

The promise that we can use gene modification, or even data, to eliminate psychiatric disorders is a fool\u2019s errand. Chronic stress matters. And genetic risk variants remain in the population because they\u2019re advantageous to certain people, given the right genetic background or conditions. Those risk variants are speculating \u2014 evolution, always and forever, takes chances.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

CRISPR is the acronym du jour. But the technique that\u2019s drawn such attention is actually a two-part process: CRISPR and Cas. Cas stands for \u201cCRISPR-associated proteins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CRISPR process includes \u201cproteins that unravel DNA, others that cut the double helix at a specific location, and a guide RNA that can recognize enemy DNA in the cell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cas9, invented by a team led by Jennifer Doudna of UC Berkeley, is the famous one\u2026 for now.<\/p>\n

There are actually multiple gene-editing alternatives being studied as you read this. Science moves fast.<\/p>\n

Feng Zhang, who leads the Broad Institute group that\u2019s squaring off with Doudna\u2019s Berkeley group in that patent interference proceeding, is responsible for CRISPR-Cpf1. Cpf1 is a smaller, simpler alternative to the Cas9 enzyme.<\/p>\n

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Gene-editing technology could \u2014 and probably will \u2014 change the world.<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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As Heidi Ledford of the journal Nature<\/em> explains, \u201cThe small size makes the enzyme easier to shuttle into mature cells \u2014 a crucial destination for some potential therapies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zhang and his team have also identified C2c2, \u201can RNA-guided enzyme capable of targeting and degrading RNA\u201d that \u201chelps protect bacteria against viral infection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Berkeley team is also hard at work. As GenomeWeb reports, researchers there discovered \u201ctwo new CRISPR\/Cas systems in a variety of uncultivated microbes, opening the door for the development of new versions of the genome-editing technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a paper published December 22, 2016, Doudna and her colleagues write:<\/p>\n

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Current CRISPR-Cas technologies are based solely on systems from isolated bacteria, leaving untapped the vast majority of enzymes from organisms that have not been cultured. Metagenomics, the sequencing of DNA extracted from natural microbial communities, provides access to the genetic material of a huge array of uncultivated organisms. Here, using genome-resolved metagenomics, we identified novel CRISPR-Cas systems\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

CRISPR aren\u2019t the only tool for gene editing, though the efficacy of an alternative based on the Argonaute protein from\u00a0Natronobacterium gregoryi <\/em>(NgAgo) is in question.<\/p>\n

As Nature\u2019s<\/em> David Cyranoski writes:<\/p>\n

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Three months ago, Han Chunyu, a biologist at Hebei University of Science and Technology in Shijiazhuang, reported that the enzyme NgAgo can be used to edit mammalian genes. Now an increasing number of scientists are complaining that they cannot replicate Han\u2019s results \u2014 although one researcher has told Nature<\/em> that he can. Nature Biotechnology<\/em>, which published the research, is investigating the matter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gene-editing technology could \u2014 and probably will \u2014 change the world.<\/p>\n

As Kozubek notes, despite the fact that questions of ethics \u201cwill only get more fraught,\u201d \u201cthe method is here to last\u201d and \u201cideas on how to use\u201d CRISPR \u201cchange hourly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fasten your seat belts.<\/p>\n

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Upticks, Downticks<\/h3>\n

\"Uptick\" The Russell 2000 gapped up at the open on Friday and held onto its gains sufficiently enough to end another week in the green. The small-cap index added 0.3% during the five trading sessions that ended January 13 and is now up 1.1% in this very young year.<\/p>\n

\"Downtick\" The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) \u2014 also known as the market\u2019s \u201cfear gauge\u201d \u2014 crept up from 11.32 at the close on Friday, January 6, to as high as 12.60 last week but settled at 11.23 on Friday. That puts the VIX in all-time-low territory.<\/p>\n

\"Uptick\" Small-business owners are hyped by the potential of a Trump administration. As Bloomberg reports<\/strong><\/a>, \u201cOptimism among America\u2019s small businesses soared in December by the most since 1980 as expectations about the economy\u2019s prospects improved dramatically in the aftermath of the presidential election.\u201d The National Federation of Independent Business\u2019 Index of Small Business Optimism added 7.4 points last month, to 105.8, the highest reading since 2004, fueled by \u201ca stratospheric 38-point jump in the number of owners who expect better business conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Downtick\" \u201cThey\u2019re getting away with murder,\u201d said President-elect Donald Trump during a January 11 press conference at his eponymous tower. And with that, <\/strong>the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index shed 3% and the S&P 500 Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, & Life Sciences Index fell 1.7%<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> \u201c<\/strong>Pharma has a lot of lobbyists and a lot of power and there is very little bidding,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re the largest buyer of drugs in the world, yet we don\u2019t bid properly\u2026 and we\u2019re going to save billions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Uptick\" Eddy Elfenbein of Crossing Wall Street reports on a fascinating bit of market trivia<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cThe S&P 500 tech sector is closing in on its all-time highs set in March 2000. It only took 17 years, and we\u2019re still not quite there yet. This isn\u2019t unprecedented. The Dow didn\u2019t take out its 1929 high for 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Downtick\"Reuters reports on Bitcoin and big trouble in the Middle Kingdom<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cChina\u2019s central bank launched spot checks on leading Bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai, ratcheting up pressure on potential capital outflows and knocking the price of the cryptocurrency down more than 12% against the dollar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Uptick\" The U.S. Department of Labor\u2019s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported January 10 that the number of job openings on the last business day of November 2016 totaled 5.522 million, up from 5.451 million in October and more than the consensus forecast of 5.5 million openings. The Labor Department also reported that seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance were up 10,000, to 247,000, below a consensus forecast of 255,000, while the four-week moving average declined by 1,750, to 256,500.<\/p>\n

\"Downtick\" President-elect Donald Trump is in historically low territory when it comes to Gallup polling. According to Gallup, 51% of Americans disapprove of how he\u2019s managing the transition, while 44% approve. In December, 48% disapproved and 48% approved of Trump\u2019s post-election efforts to establish his administration. President Obama enjoyed 83%-to-12% approval-disapproval at a similar stage, while President George W. Bush, who, like Trump, lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College and thus the White House, stood at 61% approval, 25% disapproval.<\/p>\n

\"Uptick\" So proud of my fellow Virginian: \u201cVirginia Man Spends $1,000 to Deliver 300,000 Pennies to Lebanon DMV<\/strong><\/a>.\u201d Sounds like a (great) case of stick-it-to-the-man-eosis. I mean, who hasn\u2019t fantasized about doing the very same?<\/p>\n

\"Downtick\" William Peter Blatty, who wrote The Exorcist<\/em>, both the novel and the screenplay, died aged 88 last week<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smart Investing,<\/p>\n

David Dittman
\nEditorial Director, Wall Street Daily<\/i><\/p>\n

The post Gene Editing: CRISPR Patent Dispute Can\u2019t Slow Innovation<\/a> appeared first on Wall Street Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com CRISPR-Cas9 is the big name in gene-editing technology, and there\u2019s an ongoing patent dispute holding up potentially millions \u2014 even billions \u2014 in new business. But researchers continue to find new ways to make us better, stronger, faster\u2026 We\u2019re still waiting for a decision that could determine who profits from the most important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100835"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100850,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100835\/revisions\/100850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}