Who owns your research?

[Jst213]

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I have a question with regards to who owns the work that you do. If you were to say discover a drug that not only worked very well in the treatment of cancer but also has been proven to cause little to no side effects in human subjects and approved in compassionate cases (i.e. this is most definitely something that can be produced and sold as a drug) how would this work in terms of who poses what? Does your school own all the intellectual material that you produce?

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

Who funded the research?

Big Hoss

 

[Mad Jack]

I have a question with regards to who owns the work that you do. If you were to say discover a drug that not only worked very well in the treatment of cancer but also has been proven to cause little to no side effects in human subjects and approved in compassionate cases (i.e. this is most definitely something that can be produced and sold as a drug) how would this work in terms of who poses what? Does your school own all the intellectual material that you produce?

If they funded the research, usually. They don't just give you grants for free, they expect something in return. There are some schools that split patent rights with students and professors, but those are rare exceptions. Now, if you funded the discovery on your own, or in your free time, and utilized none of your school's facilities? Some schools would make you prove you used none of their lab equipment etc to show they didn't have a claim. If you're not a student and in the working world, an academic institution might make claims against your patent. There's a lot of variables, it all comes down to where you're going to school, who you're working for, and who paid for the research. Most of the time, your discoveries will not be yours- they'll be jointly or wholly owned by the institution or corporation that funded you.

 

[Jst213]

****. K well the research has been done in the schools labs but I don't have any grants. I used most of the cells from the school. The drugs were purchased by my PI. Should have kept my mouth shut and done it myself.

 

[Mad Jack]

****. K well the research has been done in the schools labs but I don't have any grants. I used most of the cells from the school. The drugs were purchased by my PI. Should have kept my mouth shut and done it myself.

Yep, your school likely owns it. But, you know, if it's as important as you seem to believe it is, you could still land a Nobel or something.

 

[Jst213]

Good point watch me think it's actually something revolutionary and it turns out to go down the drain haha.

 

[Mad Jack]

Good point watch me think it's actually something revolutionary and it turns out to go down the drain haha.

Could be a breakthrough, you never know. I had one of those moments recently that I'm going to talk with someone in oncology about. I don't care about the credit or the money though- it could legitimately save lives and I frankly don't have the time or energy to invest in doing research that (however lifesaving) isn't my interest. All revolves around a novel viral vector for certain types of cancer that no one has tried yet, but would be highly effective and easy to do. So hey, even if you don't get much out of it, you can at least sleep better knowing that you maybe saved a bunch of lives if it works out.

 

[Jst213]

Could be a breakthrough, you never know. I had one of those moments recently that I'm going to talk with someone in oncology about. I don't care about the credit or the money though- it could legitimately save lives and I frankly don't have the time or energy to invest in doing research that (however lifesaving) isn't my interest. All revolves around a novel viral vector for certain types of cancer that no one has tried yet, but would be highly effective and easy to do. So hey, even if you don't get much out of it, you can at least sleep better knowing that you maybe saved a bunch of lives if it works out.

I like how you think 🙂

 

[Michael_Scott]

Yup, whoever funded the research.
This is very interesting. Please follow up as I am too eager to know where this leads.

 

[Cello]

Hey man, I once invented melted Cheeto mash by accident using only a microwave. It was an entirely self funded project. I should have won something for that.

 

[doc toothache]

Hey man, I once invented melted Cheeto mash by accident using only a microwave. It was an entirely self funded project. I should have won something for that.

Sounds like you ate your reward.