The United States Database Debate – Proteins as virtual property

Abstract

Introduction

A database is defined as “any organized collection of information” and can include any number of different categories, from clients list, to phonebooks to nucleotide sequence data for E. Coli. As the speed and storage capacity of next generation computers continue to Moore's law, doubling every 12–18 months, databases are becoming vital tools to extract information that to date has gone unnoticed. Nowhere is this more applicable or more evident than in the burgeoning field of bioinformatics, the science of applying computers to biological problems. Bioinformaticians are a loose consort of biologists, physicists, chemists, mathematicians who also understand principles of computer science. These Bioinformaticians invest substantial resources in the form of money, time, and personnel in gathering information, verifying the accuracy of that information, and bringing it together in one location. Until very recently, scientists who fit this definition have largely been academic researchers, but with the mapping of the Human Genome completed, these scientists have now begun to become more and more prevalent in commercial settings. To date, these academic scientists have participated in open source data sharing to speed scientific progress, but as the cost of development increases and commercial entities continue to exploit bioinformatics tools for the production of new drug candidates this compiled information has become the topic of hot debate. The difficulty associated with a discussion of such a highly technical subject both intellectual property and genomics, coupled with a paradigm shift in the science makes for a very difficult and perhaps insurmountable barrier. In spite of these difficulties, one should not be discouraged, as the innovation at this level is the beginning of the end of death and disease in human beings.