JUNK DNA
Fifty years after Crick and Watson’s historic discovery of DNA, the scientific community has come a long way toward unraveling the mysteries of the key to life.
The Human Genome Project has mapped our entire genetic code; we are genetically modifying plants and animals, finding genetic cures for diseases. Investigation of the coding region of DNA revolutionized science and the world. It makes up less than 5% of our entire genome. The rest of our DNA didn’t seem to have any known function so it was dubbed non-coding, “Junk DNA”.
The story of how Malcolm Simons turned Junk DNA into gold is one of the greatest controversies of our time. The control and ownership of our genetic material is a story of triumph and tragedy. He had the genius to realize that the non-coding part of our DNA wasn’t the junk DNA many scientists labeled it, but vital to the processes of life. His character fits an eccentric scientist, brilliant at his work but hopeless with everyday life.
Dr Malcolm Simons, internationally recognized immunologist, spent 30 years of his life hunting for better ways to diagnose disease. He gained a reputation as an eccentric. He married and divorced five times, fathered three pairs of children, and has been bankrupt.
The tragedy is seeing his dreams come to fruition as he faces death from Multiple Myeloma. It is a fatal and incurable cancer, formed in the Junk DNA he spent 16 years exploring.
Despite having no formal training in genetics, he had a moment of remarkable insight in 1987 that convinced him Junk DNA was serving a vital function. It provided markers that indicated susceptibility to disease. At a Workshop in the United States, he saw patterns emerge from the non-coding DNA. He realized that whatever was going on in non-coding DNA was not random.
"There was order in the 95%. If there was order there was likely to be function. Maybe this was a way to also contribute to understanding the function of genes and therefore their malfunction in disease and in so doing help diagnosis - make earlier diagnosis - help save lives." … Malcolm Simons. When he posed his radical theory that this junk might actually have a critical role in diagnosis, his peers denounced him.
The majority of geneticists were focused on coding DNA, the non-coding region was irrelevant. Mervyn Jacobson believed in his genius. Mervyn, organized and efficient, and Malcolm, eccentric and chaotic, formed Genetic Technologies in 1989. They believed non-coding DNA could prove valuable in diagnosing disease, in developing therapies, and even cures.
Others around the world were exploring similar ideas, but Malcolm Simons took the unprecedented step in the mid 1990s. He patented the use of Junk DNA. It was an act of extraordinary foresight.
That foresight is paying off literally. Today, $20 million of investment later, researchers the world over are confirming that non-coding DNA holds critical clues to a vast range of diseases; breast cancer, HIV, Crohns disease, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, ovarian and skin cancer. The list grows daily. Prof. John Mattick, a leading figure in world genetics, claimed, "the failure to recognize the implications of the non-coding DNA will go down as the biggest mistake in the history of molecular biology". Genetic Technologies signed a series of licensing deals allowing companies to use their Junk DNA patents. This brings in millions of dollars for the company and profits look like they will continue to roll in.
Implications of the patents are staggering. Genetic Technologies controls access to 95% of DNA of every creature on earth. They can charge license fees to anyone, anywhere in the world, working in the non-coding regions. Critics of DNA patenting are outraged.
For Malcolm Simons the vindication and controversy is meaningless. He resigned from Genetic Technologies in 2000. He no longer has any shares in the company he once co-owned, he’s broke and he’s grappling with the realities of final stage cancer.
