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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2021
On June 20,1991, Dr. Craig Venter, then a molecular biologist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a member agency of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), revealed that the NIH was filing an application with the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to patent 351 genetic fragments sequenced from brain tissues. The first of many applications filed by the NIH during the next two years, the agency also applied to patent the complete set of genes encompassing each fragment. These applications were filed despite the fact that the full gene sequences, their protein products, and their functions were still unknown (several genetic fragments make up a gene, and these fragments code for protein those products that have physiological functions; an example of such a product is insulin).