US Patent Office Issues FractoGene Patent

 
Happy for my friend Andras Pellionisz, who was granted a patent this week for his pioneering work in genetics.

His tensor network theory became a touchstone for a generation of people in neuroscience, and is fundamental to my own efforts. (PDF)

Andras has made a career of being ahead of his time. Developments from the last few years have vindicated his views on 'Junk' DNA and fractal genetics.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Sunnyvale, CA (PRWEB) October 02, 2012 

US Patent Office Issues FractoGene Patent 8,280,641

Recognizes breakthrough research; validates business model.

This method and system is critical to the application of industrial genomics in clinical settings, most especially in the fight against cancer. The computation of genomic fractal defects can parse individual diversity from pathology, and thus represents a quantum leap in early diagnosis, personal therapy, and genome-based drug development.

Pursuant to decades of research in applying mathematics to neuroscience and genomics, Pellionisz, who has three doctoral degrees, submitted his provisional application on August 1st, 2002. Recognition by the US government may well have been delayed due to its cross-disciplinary nature. The greatest hurdle was most likely the required paradigm shift — moving from the “Junk DNA” model to a fractal iterative recursion paradigm, which was initially perceived by many as a “lucid heresy.”

The status quo began to give way a few years ago, beginning with the results from the ENCODE Project, when in 2007 its leader Francis Collins urged the scientific community to “re-think long held fundamentals.” Such progress was made in Pellionisz’s presentation at George Church’s meeting in Cold Spring Harbor, Sept. 16, 2009. Another landmark was the publication by Eric Lander et al. in the Oct. 9, 2009 of Science, featuring the Hilbert-fractal of a genome on the cover.

“A protracted period of examination was costly and occasionally painful, but the issue could not be better timed for deployment,” said Pellionisz. He was delighted that legal recognition arrived via an “Issue Notification,” dated September 12, 2012. It was a heady time. The notice came less than a week after the release of 30+ papers from ENCODE on September 6th, 2012 — again concluding that “Junk DNA” was a myth.

Press release