Patents are useful in biology

A letter in the current Nature highlights the utility of patents as sources of information for biologists.

Thanks to the strict enablement requirements of patent law and patent offices in relation to inventions, one can often find more detailed methodology in patent documents than in journals with severe page limits.

A very good example of comprehensive detail in certain non-embryonic stem-cell methodologies is a PCT application WO/2006/028723 (Non-Embryonic Totipotent Blastomer-Like Stem Cells and Methods Therefor), which includes surgical procedures in organ removal, isolation of cells, and composition and preparation of culture media. In this instance, the level of detail and volume of text relating to methodology far exceeds that which many peer-reviewed journals can accommodate.