His name was OncoMouse.
OncoMouses creators scientists Philip Leder and Timothy Stewart, however, had not created a better mouse.
On the contrary, it was much worse.
The researchers created the mice by injecting known cancer genes into mouse embryos just after fertilization.
Mouse models are the foremost research tool for studying human disease and human health.
To enhance research, mice are genetically modified to make them more vulnerable to a particular disease.
Researchers have created mice that develop breast cancer and diabetes.
A mouse, genetically engineered to be obese, sits next to a healthy mouse.
It wasnt even the first time a life-form was patented.
At the time, four naturally occurring species of oil-metabolizing bacteria were known to exist.
Chakrabarty filed for a patent, but the patent office denied him because it involved a living organism.
The case then went to the United States Supreme Court leading to a historic verdict.
And DuPont did exactly that.
Jackson Labs is a biomedical research institution and one of the worlds largest source of genetically modified mice.
They already had OncoMouse in their repository, before the patent, for four years.
DuPont alsoinsisted upon royaltiesshould any commercial breakthroughs be made using the Oncomouse.
But that was not all.
Leder and Stewart weren’t the only guys with the big brains.
The research community became enraged and tried to negotiate with DuPont.
Many scientists openly rebelled by distributing OncoMice.
In 2005, the OncoMouse patent expired.
DuPont tried to extend the patent, but the courts ruled against them.
New technologies had made the OncoMouse obsolete anyway, so it didnt matter.
But the way the scientific community conducted research changed forever.
The boundary between academic and commercial worlds became blurred as universities became more focused on profit.
Others believe that for-profit companies are hampering research by holding dearly to their patents.
They got lots of bad publicity, David Einhorn, House Counsel of Jackson Laboratory toldScience History Institute.
They made very little money on the patent.
And I think that was a message for the commercial world not to overreach.
