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Buchanan-Chapela Novartis Revisited. Pro: Bob Buchanan / Con: Dr. Ignacio Chapela California Monthly v.112, n.4, Feb02 At the very least, the alliance has resulted in seriousquestioning of the public role and image of the University. In November 1998, the Berkeley campus and its Department of Plant and Microbial Biology signed a five-year collaborative research agreement with the Swiss pharmaceutical and agrochemical company Novartis in which the company agreed to pay the department up to $25 million in research support over a period of five years. In this widely discussed, and criticized, private sponsorship of University research, the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology was also given access to Novartis's gene-sequencing technology and DNA database on plant genomics. For its part, Novartis was given first rights to negotiate licenses to patents on a proportion of the discoveries made in the department, and received two seats on a five-member committee set up to select research projects. In November 2000, the division of Novartis that signed the agreement with Berkeley ceased to exist; the five-year agreement is being continued and managed by its successor firm, Syngenta. Three years into this ground-breaking agreement, we asked two closely involved faculty members from the College of Natural Resources (CNR), which administers the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, for their assessments of what is still called the Novartis agreement. Professor Bob B. Buchanan, current chair of the department's Division of Microbial Biology, played a key role in securing the agreement with Novartis in 1998. During that time, assistant professor of microbial ecology Ignacio Chapels was chair of CNR's executive committee and opposed the agreement. Pro: Bob B. Buchanan THE BERKELEY- NOVARTIS AGREEMENT HAS BEEN widely discussed in these pages and elsewhere. In a comprehensive review of the agreement published in the Chronicle of Higher Education last June 22, reporter Goldie Blumenstyk pointed out that, after extensive interviews at all levels, she was unable to find a single instance in which the Novartis agreement had overtly compromised research at Berkeley. Blumenstyk concluded that the funds are used in a manner that, in effect, differs little from a standard university grant. As seen from the outside, Blumenstyk's perception that the agreement differs little from a standard university grant is understandable. However, from within the department, this view does not reflect the significant academic development that has ensued. I can speak to this point with confidence, as I have been involved since the beginning as a member of the team that laid the foundation for the Novartis agreement. As I see it, the benefits to the relevant sectors of the Berkeley campus exceed the return from a typical federal grant in scholarship and overall campus benefit by a wide margin. My appraisal of the effect of the Novartis agreement on research at Berkeley crystallized with the presentations made last October at the annual retreat of participating Berkeley faculty and Torrey Mesa Research Institute scientists. TMRI is the exploratory research laboratory of the reorganized Novartis Corporation (Syngenta) that participates directly in the agreement. As a former long-term department chair, I have observed the maturation of the research programs of our faculty members over the years. What I witnessed at the retreat was nothing short of astonishing: The research programs of faculty participating in the agreement had improved in both vigor and quality, in some cases impressively so. Thanks to the research support ($10 million) and, more importantly, to the information exchanged and access to the expertise and facilities at TMRI, a number of faculty programs had moved from the level of solid science to the cutting edge. Attendant with these changes was evidence of the enhanced opportunity of the 10 advanced graduate students and 50 postdoctoral scholars supported by TMRI funds to learn and take advantage of their impressive mix of new information and technologies. Furthermore, consistent with the flexibility of the funds (no strings attached) and contrary to fears expressed by some campus faculty about intellectual freedom, the nature of departmental research programs had not changed and still ran the gamut from the very basic to envisioned application. Nonetheless, several faculty have expressed satisfaction at realizing, through the TMRI interaction, that their basic findings may have application and direct relevance to society. It was obvious at the retreat that research results continued to be published in leading journals and that faculty members, students, and postdoctoral scholars continued to present findings at prestigious national and international scientific meetings. Further discussions and observations have revealed that, in addition to federal grants, faculty members continue to hold research contracts as well as scientific advisory board and other consulting positions at companies unrelated to TMRI/Syngenta. Finally, it has been noted, particularly by students, that, owing to the TMRI funds, individual faculty have to some extent been freed from grant writing and have more time for research, including experiments at the bench. The faculty are, however, not the only beneficiaries. It is obvious to all within the department that graduate programs in both plant biology and microbial biology have been strengthened. The $1.25 million in TMRI funds have been used to purchase major research equipment needed for training campus-wide and for student stipends and associated activities, such as lectures and seminars, that benefit the greater biology community. Several early reports highlighted the unease that some of our students felt at not being thoroughly informed of the Novartis agreement during its initial formulation. As details of the agreement have become known, this unease seems to have dissipated. The benefits of the agreement to the department extend, in a ripple effect, to the college and campus. The College of Natural Resources, which administers the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, has applied its return from the Novartis agreement ($1.25 million) to the recruitment of four new faculty for whom other monies were not available and to a fund for renovating buildings such as Hilgard Hall and Mulford Hall. Unrestricted capital for improvement of such buildings is indeed scarce because, although sorely in need of repair, these facilities are considered seismically safe and therefore do not qualify for state funds. Like the college, the campus administration is using the funds ($2.5 million) to meet pressing campus needs, such as attracting and retaining faculty. Continuing direction of major sums generated by the Novartis agreement to the common good may help allay concern over the equity issue-i.e., the perception that the Novartis funds created "haves" and "have nots:" Finally, what about TMRI, whose parent company, Syngenta, has provided the funds for the agreement? Although still mostly in the germinative stage, the far-reaching collaborative programs that have been initiated have strengthened TMRI research by providing information to serve as a launching pad for future projects and by obtaining access to new intellectual property. By forging ties with faculty having decades of experience in their fields, the institute is capitalizing on an investment in technologies ranging from metabolomics to proteomics to genomics. Through these collaborations, TMRI has licensed rights to seven inventions. Interactions with Berkeley have also resulted in the recruitment of Berkeley postdoctoral scholars to staff positions at TMRI. Just past the midpoint in the five-year contract, the Novartis agreement has more than met expectations. The College of Natural Resources and the campus have been able to improve physical facilities and recruit and retain faculty. The funds made available to the department have strengthened faculty programs, and in some cases given them incisive new direction. There has been a concordant improvement in graduate studies and research opportunities for postdoctoral scholars. TMRI, the provider of the funds, has also benefited, scientifically and through the acquisition of intellectual property. As the collaborative research between TMRI and Berkeley scientists is just getting under way, I foresee that even greater strides will be made in these areas in the future. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, Bob B. Buchanan teaches general biochemistry to undergraduates and plant biochemistry to graduate students. Known for his work on photosynthesis, he and his collaborators have more recently studied cereals, opening the door to a number of promising new technologies. Con: Ignacio Chapela SINCE SEPTEMBER 11, THE WORLD HAS BEEN rediscovering the essential role of the public sector in providing rational decision-making for our society. The deepest foundation of this role lies in the public university. Despite its importance, the fabric of that foundation is composed of the most vulnerable materials: collegial links between divergent disciplines, involvement in world affairs with an arm's-length relationship to the players, and freedom to pursue ideas and relate the outcome of that pursuit to the general public. At Cal, all these elements were placed at risk with the signing of the "Novartis-Berkeley Strategic Alliance:' Collegial relationships were shaken by
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