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Open source genetics needed to feed the world
November 27, 2003

CAMBIA via Life Sciences Network

This week Australian genetics pioneer Richard Jefferson was recognised by Scientific American, the prestigious international science magazine, as one of the 50 global technology leaders of 2003.

His latest inventions could unleash a new Green Revolution, giving farmers, researchers and agriculture businesses across the world access to the potential of modern genetics.

And he’s calling on the global biotechnology community to adopt open access genetics – freeing up the tools of modern genetics and biology from the shackles of excessive patenting.

Jefferson will be honoured at a presentation on Thursday 11 December at the New York Academy of Sciences along with Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and other science, engineering, commerce and public policy leaders.

Professor Richard Jefferson and his team of scientists and IP experts at CAMBIA (Center for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture) are creating a powerful and freely available genetics and policy toolkit that will allow plant breeders and scientists around the world to add new directions to conventional plant and animal breeding.

China’s leading plant geneticist, Professor Zhang Qifa, has already used the toolkit to create 20,000 unique rice lines in his quest for more robust, high yielding rice that uses less water and are resistant to pests and diseases.

“We don’t always need to insert foreign genes,” says Jefferson, “as we are yet to harness the potential of the crop’s own genome.”

“Biotechnology is being stifled by the complexity, expense and misuse of patenting. So we are taking a different approach with our toolkit to ensure it’s available for all to use,” says Jefferson.

“CAMBIA and the Rockefeller Foundation are working together to create an ‘Open Access’ biological technology movement – just as the computing community has created Linux and other great Open Source innovations. Our tools will be free to all and are crafted to unleash the creativity of researchers and farmers. Companies will have much greater opportunities to create wealth from new crops and products, winning much-needed public trust in the process

Jefferson originally founded CAMBIA in Canberra in 1991, to give developing countries access to the tools of molecular biology. It soon became clear, however that many of the same barriers to the creation and adoption of new technology in developing countries are also hindering businesses and the research community in the developed world – in particular the confused web of intellectual property rights which is hurting both small and large biotechnology companies, and which has gutted the public sector.

Today CAMBIA employs 40 scientists and is working with the FAO, The Rockefeller Foundation, the CGIAR and many other international groups, and is affiliated with Charles Sturt University.

CAMBIA via Life Sciences Network

Photo: CAMBIA

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