Changing landscape in biotechnology patenting

a b s t r a c t Trade regime of the world has brought into focus the ability to generate and secure IPR. The transformation has been rapid and recent decades have seen an increase in intellectual property protection worldwide. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) has, since it began in 1978, seen continuous growth with a record 156,100 application filed in 2007, representing a 4.7% growth over the previous year. Most academic patents applied for are in biotechnology or related fields. The paper identifies the effect of the changing landscape in biotechnology patents. Changes in specific areas like transgenic crops, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals etc. are also discussed along with trends like the increase in patent applications by educational institutes across the globe. Certain problems pertaining to patenting of biotechnological innovations that have arisen in recent times are also discussed

Changing landscape in biotechnology patenting

Trade regime of the world has brought into focus the ability to generate and secure IPR. The transformation has been rapid and recent decades have seen an increase in intellectual property protection worldwide. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) has, since it began in 1978, seen continuous growth with a record 156,100 application filed in 2007, representing a 4.7% growth over the previous year. Most academic patents applied for are in biotechnology or related fields. The paper identifies the effect of the changing landscape in biotechnology patents. Changes in specific areas like transgenic crops, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals etc. are also discussed along with trends like the increase in patent applications by educational institutes across the globe. Certain problems pertaining to patenting of biotechnological innovations that have arisen in recent times are also discussed.Biotechnology IPR Landscaping Patents Transgenics Nanotechnology Pharmaceuticals Review Academic patents India Europe Asia

Identification of Complement Regulatory Domains in Vaccinia Virus Complement Control Protein

Vaccinia virus encodes a homolog of the human complement regulators named vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP). It is composed of four contiguous complement control protein (CCP) domains. Previously, VCP has been shown to bind to C3b and C4b and to inactivate the classical and alternative pathway C3 convertases by accelerating the decay of the classical pathway C3 convertase and (to a limited extent) the alternative pathway C3 convertase, as well as by supporting the factor I-mediated inactivation of C3b and C4b (the subunits of C3 convertases). In this study, we have mapped the CCP domains of VCP important for its cofactor activities, decay-accelerating activities, and binding to the target proteins by utilizing a series of deletion mutants. Our data indicate the following. (i) CCPs 1 to 3 are essential for cofactor activity for C3b and C4b; however, CCP 4 also contributes to the optimal activity. (ii) CCPs 1 to 2 are enough to mediate the classical pathway decay-accelerating activity but show very minimal activity, and all the four CCPs are necessary for its efficient activity. (iii) CCPs 2 to 4 mediate the alternative pathway decay-accelerating activity. (iv) CCPs 1 to 3 are required for binding to C3b and C4b, but the presence of CCP 4 enhances the affinity for both the target proteins. These results together demonstrate that the entire length of the protein is required for VCP's various functional activities and suggests why the four-domain structure of viral CCP is conserved in poxviruses