Lecturer Arti Rai | Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences

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Prof. Arti K. Rai, JD, is the Elvin R. Latty Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law. She is an expert in patent law, innovation policy, and law and the biopharmaceutical industry. Her current research, funded by the NIH, focuses on intellectual property issues raised by collaborative R&D in areas ranging from synthetic biology to drug development.

Professor Rai joined the Duke Law faculty in 2003. In the winter of 2007, Rai was the Hieken Visiting Professor in Patent Law at Harvard Law School. In the fall of 2004, Rai was a Visiting Professor at Yale Law School. Prior to joining Duke, she was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was also a visiting professor in Fall 2000. From 1997-2001, she was a faculty member at the University of San Diego School of Law.

Rai graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, with a BA in biochemistry and history (history and science), attended Harvard Medical School for the 1987-1988 academic year, and received her JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1991. While in law school, she served as executive editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

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The Paradigm Shift of Synthetic Biology: Tensions Between Innovation and Security

Arti K. Rai, JD
Duke Law

Tuesday, November 4, 2008
11:30am - 1:00pm
Theater, Coffman Memorial Union

Synthetic biology aims to effect a paradigm shift in biology, changing it from a relatively high-cost, centralized endeavor to one that operates through cheap DNA synthesis and standardized parts. The most passionate synthetic biology proponents envision a future in which decentralized networks of small firms and individual inventors can cheaply "hack" (i.e. improve) standardized DNA parts in the same way that they currently hack computer code. The accelerated innovation potentially produced through decentralization and standardization could be extremely important for social welfare—end results could include, for example, low-cost, environmentally friendly fuels. On the other hand, decentralization may increase the potential for entry by actors with nefarious motives. The challenge for law and policy is two-fold: first, to determine whether more decentralized innovation will, in fact, increase security threats; and second, if so, to determine how tensions between accelerating innovation and maintaining security should be mediated.

The presentation will be followed by an invitational lunch from 1:00-2:00pm.

Commentators:


Shaun Kennedy University of Minnesota Director, National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD); Director of Partnerships & External Relations, College of Veterinary Medicine	Jordan Paradise, JD University of Minnesota Associate Director of Research & Education, Consortium and Joint Degree Program; Adjunct Associate Professor of Law; Research Associate in the Center for Bioethics; Faculty Editor-in-Chief of the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology (MJLST)

Intended Audience: students, faculty, researchers, scientists, policymakers, patients, health care professionals and organizations, and interested community.
The Consortium has requested CLE and CME credits for this lecture.
The University of Minnesota is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Application will be made for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, and other health care professionals who participate in this CME activity may submit their Statements of Attendance to their appropriate accrediting organizations or state boards for consideration of credit. The participant is responsible for determining whether this activity meets the requirements for acceptable continuing education.

Credit is sought only for those attending the live lecture; credit will not be given for viewing videotapes after the lecture. Continuing legal education credit (CLE) for attorneys will be requested (1.5 hours).