Two Towers, Two IP Stories
Here’s my Soapbox Science blog series post on nature.com blogs
It’s related to my Bench to bedside post. http://goo.gl/8xtDH I share two examples about intellectual property (IP) in an academic setting; one good and one bad.
Thanks Laura Wheeler for the opportunity to share my story and thoughts. Thanks Jerry Nguyen for introducing me to the Soapbox series via the #PhDelta posts.
http://blogs.nature.com/soapboxscience/2012/09/26/two-towers-two-ip-stories
September 26, 2012
Thanks Feisal Kamil I hope it was informative.
September 26, 2012
I think the same thing with Copyright. The people it should really benefit are the ones that don’t have the resources to manipulate it.
September 26, 2012
Nice write-up, Chad Haney . One point of puzzlement: did they make you wait a year to receive the degree until all of the clearance was completed? That seems more than burdensome, if I read that right, as your career was put on hold for the institution’s attempt at a benefit.
September 26, 2012
Thanks Bill. No, my PhD was granted. My thesis was literally put on a shelf for one year. I was not able to publish it for that year. By the time the year was up, I was into my postdoc. So I published my thesis work maybe 1.5 yrs into my postdoc.
September 27, 2012
We don’t have a publishing requirement to graduate at my Univ.
Although not having one’s thesis published does put a crimp in fellowship and postdoc applications.
September 27, 2012
That’s the kind of unfair burden I was thinking of, Rajini Rao , but Chad seems to have avoided the problem.
September 27, 2012
It’s a huge burden. Also, it is really hard to publish “cold” work..if the reviewers ask for more data, who is going to do it? I have the hardest time publishing a story after a student leaves.
September 27, 2012
My biggest burden, that still affects me today, is that I switched to a completely new field.
September 27, 2012
Chad Haney I know that feeling — I had something of a scramble after finishing mine, and eventually got lucky.
September 27, 2012
Did the publication issue influence your decision to switch fields?
September 27, 2012
No. It was funding and knowing the direction that the small blood substitute field was going. I posted before about how one guy in the army basically convinced the government agencies that funding blood substitutes was a waste. I had one solid review article published before graduating and second author on my friend’s pub.
September 27, 2012
Ah, good ‘ol DOD sticking its nose into science again (like breast cancer). I remember getting exploited by a Pentagon rep and in exasperation saying to him, “You guys have gotta decide if you want science or professional wrestling, ’cause right now I think you’d prefer the latter.”
September 27, 2012
Maybe, but I had a dream of saving lives by developing artificial blood. My dad was a paramedic in the army.
September 27, 2012
Feisal Kamil mouse lives.
BTW, interesting story. I was in the ER one time, don’t remember why. The lady in the next bay was talking about being in a clinical trial for sorafenib. Due to patient privacy rights and all, I couldn’t shout, hey lady I’m working on that drug and I can tell you what it does to the mice. It was just a bit exciting being so close to a patient, related to my work. Of course holding a patients prostate in your hand is a whole other department.
September 27, 2012
I often ask my physician friends why they do research. They say that they realize that they are only treating the symptoms and often have no idea about the underlying cause. The truth is that they usually cannot affect a cure, and just patch people up the best they can. Then there is the boredom that sets in from seeing the same type of cases year after year. They are almost evangelical about research.