BioScience Biz

Whoa! Innovation at the USPTO?

Backlogs at the USPTO are being dealt with using a creative strategy, the Peer-to-Patent project, that allows inventors to publish patent applications on the Web for comment by experts with relevant expertise. This is a creative way to uncover "prior art" and, thereby, assist patent examiners in assessing applications.  In other words, this is a triage system to help reduce the number of patents that are not novel.  This peer review also may reduce the number of infringement law suits currently clogging the courts.

Now, if only we can get the FDA to think outside the box in order to accelerate NDAs while maintaining high standards of safety.

Read the story about the Peer-to-Patent project in the Chicago Tribune.

Challenging conventional wisdom: too many PhDs?

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recently tackled some familiar questions, such as how to boost the number of students in technical fields and how to encourage more partnerships between colleges and the private sector. But not all of their answers fell neatly in line with conventional wisdom.

Michael S. Teitelbaum, a demographer at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, looked at what he called five “mysteries” of the STEM work force issue. For example, why do employers claim a shortage of qualified STEM graduates while prospects for Ph.D.s remain “poor"? Why do retention and completion rates for STEM fields remain low compared with students’ aspirations? Why is there a “serious” funding crisis at the National Institutes of Health after its budget doubled from 1998 to 2003?

Read the article on insidehighered.com

DIYbio--"Do-it-yourself biology" or "biohacking"

DIYbio aims to move bioscience into the hands of hobbyists who set up labs in their garages or basements.  It is a democratization of bioscience that some hope will propel the field into the mainstream just as computer hacking drove software development a tech generation ago.

The promises and risks of biohackery were addressed in a paper this summer in the new journal Systems and Synthetic Biology. "A young crowd of enthusiastic biohackers . . . may spark a wave of innovation," wrote the coordinator of a European task force examining the implications of synthetic biology. But he cautioned that amateurs who don't adhere to a professional code of conduct and lack sufficient safety training raise the specter of biosafety and security risks.

Read the full story on boston.com

Entrepreneurial wisdom for would-be startups

InfoWorld recently interviewed a number of successful tech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors to create a basic how-to article filled with advice and cautionary tales for those seeking to launch a viable startup. A key theme of the article was selecting the right time and way to transition from your full-time job to your full-time startup. Many of those interviewed, relayed their experiences of actually using the basis of their day jobs to help “bootstrap” their companies. 

 

The article includes a variety of insights covering the pros and cons of quitting your day job, the fine print that may be part of an employment agreement pertaining to intellectual property, positioning your company to attract financing and the very critical importance of networking to help you avoid reinventing the wheel.  Read the story here.