Guidelines reject criticism of policy on gene patenting
The US Patent and Trademark Office has released new guidelines on the patenting of genes and gene sequences that will clarify its handling of applications.
The new guidelines are broadly similar to an interim version that was released for comment in December 1999 (Nature 403, 3; 2000). In particular, they accept that gene patents lie within the current laws governing what can be patented, and reject broad criticism of the current gene-patenting policy.
However, the final version of the guidelines provides greater clarification of the circumstances in which a claim for the usefulness — or 'utility' — of a newly discovered gene sequence can be based on its similarity to a previously known sequence of known function.
This issue had proved one of the most contentious elements of the proposed revisions, with a range of organizations, including the National Institutes of Health and the medical colleges, arguing that the original guidelines were too loose to establish genuine inventiveness.
The new guidelines are intended to cover areas of emerging technologies "where uses for new materials that have not been fully characterized are not readily apparent".
CNN founder funds centre to counter nuclear threat
Ted Turner, the founder of global news corporation CNN, has announced that he will provide $250 million over five years to support a new institution aimed at reducing the global danger of nuclear weapons.
Charles Curtis, a former deputy energy secretary, has been named as president of the organization, which is provisionally called the Global Threat Reduction Institute.
Turner had the idea of the institute in discussions with Sam Nunn, the former Democrat senator for Georgia. Nunn had previously worked with Curtis on a study of the nuclear threat. The institute will try to increase public awareness of the nuclear threat, and will support research into arms control and antiproliferation strategies.
X-ray work leading to Indian satellite launch
AP/PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Reach for the stars: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle should take the new satellite into orbit.
Indian scientists have received the go-ahead to develop and build instruments for an astronomy satellite. But the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is funding the project, says the satellite's launch will depend on progress over the next 18 months in developing three X-ray instruments for the mission, including an X-ray space telescope.
"We have to develop the prototype instruments in this period and show that we can successfully make them in India," says P. C. Agrawal of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. He says the proposed payload is much more complex than the one his team built for an Indian remote-sensing satellite launched in 1996.
ISRO spokesman S. Krishnamurthy says that the satellite has been proposed for studying a variety of cosmic sources, ranging from nearby stars to distant extragalactic objects such as quasars. The payload will be built at the Tata institute and the satellite will be launched by ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. He says the agency is aiming for a launch "in about five years".
Canada 'faces 70% shortfall in specialist graduates'
Canada faces a 70% shortfall between the number of graduates in certain disciplines and industry's requirement for them, according to a survey by campaigners.
Since 1995, the number of graduates taking masters' degrees in Canada has fallen by 4% and the number of PhDs by 35%. The problem is particularly acute in engineering and computer science, says Doug Barber, who chairs the recently formed campaigning group eMPOWR — named for its focus on microelectronics, photonics, optoelectronics and wireless and radio engineering. Barber, the former president of electronics company Gennum, has called for a tripling of faculty members in all those disciplines.
The group is demanding Can$500 million in federal funding for university education.
Estonians give green light to gene bank
The Estonian parliament last week approved, by a large majority, the Human Gene Research Act. This legislation will regulate the creation, maintenance and use of a national gene bank in Estonia.
In accordance with normal ethical constraints, data in the gene bank will be correlated with health data and will be used to help locate genes that are associated with complex diseases.
The act also gives the go-ahead for the creation of a foundation to fund the project, called the Estonian Genome Project, to the tune of US$150 million during the next five years. The government will provide 20% of costs, but the rest must be found from private investors.
Catalonia aims to entice expat researchers home
The Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia has launched a new research institution aimed at enticing Catalan researchers working elsewhere to return home.
The Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies will be supported by the Catalan government research department and the Catalan Research Foundation. The institution hopes to hire 25 researchers a year.
Andreu Mas-Colell, head of the research department, hopes that, in combination with other initiatives, Catalonia will be able to attract back 100 researchers each year.
Sulston knighted for human genome work
PA/EPA
Sir John Sulston: an honour for genome project.
John Sulston, the former director of the Sanger Centre near Cambridge and a leading figure in the international human genome project, has received a knighthood in the New Year Honours list.
Sulston says he hopes his honour will draw attention to the enormous group working on the project at the Sanger and elsewhere. In the next few years, he plans to continue working on the genome project and to study nematode functional genomics with his long-time collaborator, Alan Coulson.
Other scientists who were knighted include biotechnology entrepreneur Christopher Evans, who started companies including Enzymatix and Merlin Ventures, and Chris Llewellyn Smith, the former director-general of CERN.
