Access

news feature

Nature 414, 685 (13 December 2001) | doi:10.1038/414685a

Open Innovation Challenges

naturejobs

The curtain falls

Rex Dalton1

Top

Theatre seemed the ideal way for US bioprospectors working in Mexico to tell local people about their work. But did the plays distract attention from the involvement of commercial interests? Rex Dalton reports.

Three years ago, a team of US scientists set out for the lush highlands of southern Mexico. The biochemical secrets of the region's plant life, together with the local Maya people's knowledge of how to exploit them, promised a rich pharmaceutical bounty.