Licensing tomorrow's technologies

The first President Bush may have famously hated it, but this summer brought further confirmation that broccoli is good for you.

A natural defence against cancer

It's been known for some time that the vegetable has anti-cancer properties, due to its richness in chemicals called glucosinolates.

The human digestive process converts these into compounds called isothiocynates, which are capable of fighting cancer.

The latest scientific findings, unveiled in July, go one step further - they prove that isothiocynates are specifically effective against bladder cancer cells.

Developing super-foods

Thanks to UK plant scientists, a broccoli containing extra-high levels of glucosinolates should one day be available to consumers.

It was developed via traditional breeding methods by a team led by Dr Richard Mithen at Norwich's John Innes Centre (JIC), which is Europe's leading crop research institute.

A licensed industry partnership

The super-broccoli will be brought to market by US seed company Seminis, which is currently crossbreeding it into commercial varieties.

The company acquired the rights to the plant via a licensing deal with Plant Biotechnology Ltd (PBL.)

PBL: Bridging The Gap Between Laborartory And Market

PBL was established in 1994 to license the JIC's intellectual property (IP).

"PBL is playing a key role in bridging the gap between academia and industry, and has consequently gained international respect," says Seminis's Dr Henk Pennings, who is overseeing the crossbreeding project.

UK discoveries open to all

All the UK's leading agricultural research institutes have been proactive about commercialising their IP.

"In commercial terms, I think one of the UK's great strengths - apart from its fantastic research base - is its open and flexible licensing policy," says PBL's director, Dr Jan Chojecki.

"In some countries, research institutes often work closely with local commercial partners, which makes it much more difficult for outside companies to take advantage of their discoveries."

Leading the world on gene silencing

Currently, the hottest licenses in PBL's portfolio are the ones for short interfering ribonucleaic acid (siRNA) gene silencing techniques.

Discovered by Drs Andrew Hamilton and David Baulcombe at the Sainsbury Laboratory, JIC's sister institute, the technologies use siRNA molecules to understand and control the function of individual genes.

It has applications not only in crop disease control, but across almost the entire biotech industry.

First siRNA licence issued

"siRNA is one of the most important developments in recent years within the field of genetics,” says PBL's patent manager, Gerard Bencen.

Earlier this year, a major agricultural biotech firm became the first company to take advantage of this, when it licensed certain rights for siRNA gene silencing detection in plants.

Major patents pending

PBL is currently aggressively pursuing a number of patent applications for other siRNA technologies with the US Patent Office.

"The industry may not yet have fully appreciated that PBL holds key intellectual property rights for siRNA, but we expect that to change soon," says Bencen.

"For biotech firms, the licenses will prove to be very important investments."

Reaching beyond the JIC

Since the late Nineties, PBL has extended its license portfolio beyond the JIC and its sister institutes.

It now represents academic and industrial bodies from across the UK and as far away as Argentina and New Zealand.

"Internationally, many universities have technology transfer units," says Dr Pennings, "but what makes PBL different is that they go one step beyond that and can link us pretty effectively with new discoveries at academic institutes around the world.”