The University Record, October 8, 1997 By Sally Pobojewski News
and Information Services The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
issued a patent to the University Sept. 30 for pioneering gene
transfer technology developed in 1987 by researchers at the
Medical School. The patent broadly covers use of DNA viruses as
vectors to introduce new genes into mammalian cells. The
technology was first reported in the January 1988 issue of
Molecular and Cellular Biology by William Kelley, Myron Levine,
Thomas Palella and their research colleagues. Their original
study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Kelley is
currently CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System
and dean of the School of Medicine; Levine is professor emeritus
of human genetics; and Palella is now with Rheumatic Disease
Center Physicians in Niles, Ill. "These scientists were the
first to show it was possible to deliver exogenous genes via a
DNA viral vector," said Robert L. Robb, director of the
Technology Management Office. "The sig