CRISPR Key Patent Battle: Zhang Feng's Team Wins.

On February 16th the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that the Broad Institute, part of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, would continue to keep the CRISPR-Cas9 patent, which was granted in 2014, and that the patent battle for the revolutionary gene-editing tool had largely settled.
three lines of text that determine the patent's attribution (Photo: STAT) There is no doubt that the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system is one of the most important biological discoveries of the century.
in 2015, Science named it Breakthrough of the Year, and the scientists who helped technology were awarded the Breakthrough Prize, known as the Breakthrough Prize, the Far-Reaching Gruber Genetics Prize in molecular biology, and the Warren Alpert Prize, which recognizes major biomedical breakthroughs.
the success of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system today is by no means a credit to a scientist.
2012, Professor Jennifer Doudna and Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier published an article in the journal Science confirming that the CRISPR-Cas9 system was able to "target" DNA cutting in in-body experiments.
two months later, Professor Virginijus Siksnys published a similar study in the journal PNAS.
papers show the huge potential of crispr-Cas9 as a gene editing tool.
in 2013, Professor Zhang Feng's team published a major study in the journal Science: They first applied crispr-Cas9 in mammals and confirmed that it could model diseases in mice within weeks.
, Professor Zhang Feng's team successfully edited genes in human cells for the first time using the CRISPR-Cas9 system.
scientific breakthrough requires a group effort, but patent applications are not.
2012, the University of California, Berkeley and the Broad Institute/MIT filed patent applications for CRISPR applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
April 2014, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the latter the first patent, and the former's application has not yet been granted.
University of California, Berkeley, believes that the work of Professor Doudna and Professor Charpentier and others has played a ground-breaking role in the application of CRISPR, so the broad institute's patents are questionable.
January 2016, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office launched a further investigation and ruled today that three judges ruled that "no in the process."
just four words means that the key CRISPR patents obtained by the Broad Institute in 2014 are enough different from the patent applications filed by the University of California, the industry's STAT said in a report.
patents filed in connection with CRISPR are not the first patents related to CRISPR applications, but they are the first to describe the invention for mammalian genome editing.
," the Broad Institute said in a statement released today.
it is worth noting that today's patent decision will not affect the application of CRISPR-Cas9 systems in the scientific community.
as a non-profit research organization, the Broad Institute is happy to share breakthrough findings with the global scientific community for the benefit of human health.
, broad research institutes will continue to work with Addgene, a non-profit library, to share this important research tool.
since 2013, more than 2,000 institutes in 59 countries around the world have received more than 37,000 CRISPR-Cas9-related prosurgeries and reagents from Addgene.
, Broad Research announced in a statement today that it will continue to provide research and development tools to partners in the industry.
Zhang Feng is the youngest tenured Chinese professor in MIT history.
last year, Professor Zhang Feng appeared on the cover of Time magazine's Asian edition as one of the "next generation leaders".
report, Time magazine believes his work has revolutioned crispr-Cas9 systems, allowing scientists to do work they previously dared not have imagined.
now, we hope to be able to remove HIV from every infected cell, or treat classic genetic diseases such as sickle-like red blood cell anemia.
even scientists have been thinking about the possibility of using it to fight cancer.
, it can also be used in plant genomes.
this could lead to new bioenedy, or more stable crops.
look forward to seeing CRISPR-Cas9 bring more applications that promise to benefit humanity!Resources: s1) FOR JOURNALISTS: STATEMENT AND BACKGROUND ON CRISPR PATENT PROCESS PROCESS (2) Broad Institute prevails in heated dispute over CRISPR patents (3) Professor Zhang Feng appeared on the cover of Time magazine: The Next Generation Leader in Editing the Genome.