Promoting Academic Entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: Creating an Intellectual Property Regime to Facilitate the Efficient Transfer of Knowledge from the Lab to the Patient

In 2014, the European Commission announced the launch of a study of knowledge transfer by public research organizations and other institutes of higher learning “to determine which additional measures might be needed to ensure an optimal flow of knowledge between the public research organisations and business thereby contributing to the development of the knowledge based economy.” As the European Commission has recognized, the European Union (“EU”) needs to take action to “unlock the potential of IPRs [intellectual property rights] that lie dormant in universities, research institutes and companies.” This article builds on our earlier work on structuring efficient pharmaceutical public-private partnerships (“PPPPs”), but focuses on the regulatory infrastructure necessary to support the efficient commercialization of publicly funded university medical research in both the European Union and the United States (“U.S.”). Our comparative analysis of the EU and U.S. approaches to translational medicine shows that there are lessons to be shared. The EU can apply the experiences from the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act and PPPPs in the United States, and the United States can emulate certain of the open innovation aspects of the European Innovative Medicines Initiative and the tighter patenting standards imposed by the European Patent Office. Thus, a secondary purpose of this article is suggesting amendments to the U.S. laws governing the patenting and licensing of government-funded technology to prevent undue burdens on the sharing of certain upstream medical discoveries and research tools

Scientific Utopia III: crowdsourcing science

Most scientific research is conducted by small teams of investigators who together formulate hypotheses, collect data, conduct analyses, and report novel findings. These teams operate independently as vertically integrated silos. Here we argue that scientific research that is horizontally distributed can provide substantial complementary value, aiming to maximize available resources, promote inclusiveness and transparency, and increase rigor and reliability. This alternative approach enables researchers to tackle ambitious projects that would not be possible under the standard model. Crowdsourced scientific initiatives vary in the degree of communication between project members from largely independent work curated by a coordination team to crowd collaboration on shared activities. The potential benefits and challenges of large-scale collaboration span the entire research process: ideation, study design, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and peer review. Complementing traditional small science with crowdsourced approaches can accelerate the progress of science and improve the quality of scientific research

Omics in Society

This report was produced by the Foresight, Behavioural Insights & Design for Policy Unit of Joint Research Centre (JRC) under the initiative towards enhanced research in the area of “Omics in Society with a focus on Genomics”. The work presented tries to address the main research areas in line with current European Commission (EC) policy priorities for foresight and citizen engagement planning. Through an extensive review of literature, corporate and media discourses, as well as do-it-yourself bio movement’s Internet sites, several thematic narratives have been identified. These narratives come from different actors telling about on-going promises, interests, expectations and concerns across the human genomics field. The present report maps also key players working in the human genomics field around the world, identifying the most expressive or emblematic companies. We observe co-existing narratives across the analysed companies’ discourses in particular in relation to the claims and promises associated to the technological advances in human genomics. Attractive narratives are offered to citizens, appealing to personal needs and interests (e.g. ancestry, genetic make-up, or genetic risks), and often overlooking ethical considerations. The literature and other sources covered in the report suggest that the human genomics field appears to be strongly consolidated in North America, with a high number of institutes and companies operating in the field. The human genomics field also appears strongly connected to big data, artificial intelligence (A.I.) and blockchain technologies debates. This has particularly gained momentum due to the involvement of tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft. We have identified relevant EU legislation and institutions in the genomics field and evidence suggests that the European Union lacks a coordinated and uniform regulation in this domain, in particular in relation to human genomics. Combined with an inability to accompany rapid advances of scientific fields, this sets a scenery of grey areas in the legislation that can be potentially exploited by practically anyone - be it companies, academia, or individuals. In fact, as we were finalising this report, Chinese scientist He Jiankui claimed he had produced the first babies with an edited genome. The analysis of major ethical concerns on the human genomics field urges the need of inclusion of non-scientific groups into the ethical debate, as well as the need to address the complete non-compliance of any international guidelines by Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing (DTC-GT) companies, the fuzziness surrounding DTC-GT business model, and concerns surrounding confidentiality security in the age of -omics with possible social repercussions. Similarly, the lack of consistent ethical guidance on DIYbio needs attention. A boost in the presence of genomics related topics in the news media is also evident, reflecting to a certain extent an upsurge of reports of optimistic portrayal that can lead to misleading and misinformed enthusiasm. The importance and influence of new media and social media is a major concern that needs to be addressed in the evaluation of information’s quality and impact in the public. Finally, this report does not present an exhaustive evaluation of citizen engagement on the social or ethical impacts potentially arising from the developments in the human genomics field, but it identifies common problematics transversal to the studies included in our analysis. We can say that not many citizen engagement activities about human genomics were found, suggesting that there is a need for the creation of dialogue spaces about this technology and its potential applications. However, it offers an updated mapping of DIYbio communities and activities, illustrating the growth of this type of grassroots engagement activities. The report informs the next steps of implementation of citizen engagement activities in the human genomic field.JRC.I.2-Foresight, Modelling, Behavioural Insights & Design for Polic

Development of a new mindset for eLearning Pedagogy: for the Teacher and the Learner

Teaching, like learning, involves a personal journey. This researched narrative records the role of technology integration in one instructor’s teaching practice, and examines how literature in the field accounts for ways eLearning technologies have kept the author and her students engaged in the process of learning. Dr. Tara Ashok of the University of Massachusetts Boston chronicles the personal eLearning tool kit she has selected for effective delivery of contents in different teaching formats. She posits the importance of developing a new mindset to adapt to emerging technologies and examines the literature and her own experiences suggesting how and why, eLearning pedagogy must include a focus on the development of a flexible / growth mindset

Learning evolution through socioscientific issues

No abstract available.publishe

THE CHRONOBIOLOGICAL HYPOTHESIS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL AND CULTURAL GENOMIC THERAPIES: FROM THE EXAMPLE OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE AND NEURODEGENERATIVE PROCESS

Recent research on Parkinson’s Disease (PD) revealed some common etiopathogenic mechanisms underlying a large range of chronic diseases, and more specifically the deregulation of chronobiological rhythms that may start in the very beginning of such pathological development. Contrary to the bottom-up tradition, the post-genomic biology provides now a much favorable zeitgeist to integrate holistic interventions in both biomedical research and mainstream medical practice. Such integrative efforts may not only improve our understanding of system-level dynamics about health and disease, but also opens larger possibilities for new clinical options that bring positive pathological evolutions while globally increasing quality of life of patients, caregivers, and their families. To facilitate the transition, we renew the invitation to join our international open source research project in widely testing the Creative Psychosocial Genomic Healing Experience (CPGHE), an evidence-based construction of a holistic and naturalist intervention with its standardized version specially designed to offer easy adaption for scientific investigation towards an evidence-based integration of holistic intervention possibilities