Living in Washington, D.C. means I am fortunate to be close to a lot of interesting moments in American History.  This past Monday was no exception.  Monday, April 15th, the oral arguments were held for the Association of Molecular Pathology (lead by the ACLU) vs. Myriad Genetics. The hearing challenged some of Myriad’s patents related to BRCA testing and is an emotionally charged subject for many people.

While I will not offer any opinion, speculation or comment, what I will share with you today are my eye-witness photos and the very well written blog post featured by Daniel Fisher in Forbes on April 12th. The blog post is written by Myriad’s President and CEO, Peter Meldrum.   To view Mr. Meldrum’s post on the Forbes website follow this link to “CEO: We’re not patenting your genes, but our research.”

Here are my eye-witness photos.  One really cool moment was spotting NIH Director, Francis Collins afterwards.  I recently watched Stephen Colbert’s interview with Dr. Collins on the NIH’s BRAIN initiative project.  The BRAIN initiative intends to help us understand the most complicated human organ using Brain Mapping!  Still kicking myself in the shin for not having the guts to go up and introduce myself.  Next time…

Related Articles:

• U.S. top court weighs patentability of human genes (Reuters)
• High Court Justices Seek Compromise in Gene Patent Case (Businessweek)
• Can Human Genes be patented (USA Today)
• DNA Project aims to make public a Company’s Data on Cancer Genes. (NY Times)
• CEO: We’re not patenting your genes, but our research. (Forbes)