Sir

The editorial “Is the university– industrial complex out of control?” (Nature 409, 119; 2001) stated that Novartis (now Syngenta) “gains a seat in university and departmental research committees and restricts academics' freedom to discuss the benefits of the deal”. As graduate students of Berkeley's plant and microbial biology department, which has made the collaborative agreement with Syngenta, we disagree. We are free to discuss the benefits of the deal, and department committees at Berkeley do not contain members from the company. There is, however, one new committee dedicated solely to awarding research funds from Syngenta, which does include company representatives.

Ironically, Berkeley was the lead player in your Opinion article, but the agreement between Berkeley and Novartis in 1998 is a model for the “new year's resolutions” that the article listed. Information about the agreement is available at http://plantbio.berkeley.edu/PMB-TMRI, including limits to publication delay, restrictions on licensing, and a list of projects funded. This document illustrates that the basic research mission of the department is promoted by the collaboration.