Bridging the gap between bioethics and patent law
PatentsinHumans is a five-year interdisciplinary project funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting grant led by Professor Aisling McMahon, School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University.
The five main types of patentable technologies related to the human body which will be examined during this project include:
Patentable technologies which treat the body
e.g. medicines, elements of vaccines etc
Patentable technologies which act on the body
e.g. elements of diagnostic tests
Patentable technologies that are in the body
e.g. isolated human genes
Patentable technologies that can be integrated with the body
e.g. elements of medical devices, prosthetics etc.
Patentable technologies that are akin to the human body or which can modify the body
e.g. neuro-technologies, gene editing techniques etc.
To learn more about the PatentsInHumans Project, please watch this short video from Principal Investigator, Professor Aisling McMahon.
Latest News:
Second PatentsInHumans Infographic
We are delighted to launch the second infographic of the ERC funded PatentsInHumans project. We...
Professor Aisling McMahon invited to speak at international symposium on ‘The Future of Human Reproduction’.
Professor Aisling McMahon was recently invited to participate in and deliver a paper at an...
Dr. Opeyemi Kolowole publishes an Ideas in ALL Blog: Competition Law Enforcement in the EU and Access to Health Technologies: An Overview of the EU 2024 Competition Law Report on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Technologies – Update on Competition Enforcement in the Pharmaceutical Sector (2018-2022)
On 24 May 2023, the Ideas in ALL Blog published a blog post by Dr Opeyemi Kolawole, a postdoctoral...
Professor Aisling McMahon delivered invited research seminar on patents, bioethical considerations and embryo models at ‘Law and Futures’ Seminar Series, Newcastle University
On 22nd May 2024, Professor Aisling McMahon gave an invited research seminar on her research on...
Professor Aisling McMahon delivered invited research seminar on patent decision-making, institutional frameworks and the marginalisation of health needs at Durham CELLS Seminar Series, Durham University
On 20th May 2024, Professor Aisling McMahon delivered a research seminar on “Patents and the...
Professor Aisling McMahon appointed as member of the Irish National Research Ethics Committee for Clinical Trials
In April 2024, Professor Aisling McMahon was appointed by the Minister for Health as a member of...
Professor Aisling McMahon & Dr Opeyemi Kolawole publish article in Medical Law Review on bioethical issues related to IPRs over downstream health-technologies developed in the biobank context
Professor Aisling McMahon and Dr Opeyemi Kolawole have published an article entitled “Biobank...
Law Society Gazette in Ireland features an article by Prof Aisling McMahon on PatentsInHumans Project examining the potential impact of patents on access to health
The April edition of the Law Society Gazette in Ireland features as its cover story an article...
Prof Aisling McMahon & Dr Opeyemi Kolawole present PatentsInHumans papers at the SLSA conference at the University of Portsmouth
On 27 March 2024, Prof Aisling McMahon & Dr Opeyemi Kolawole presented three papers based on...
PatentsInHumans Team publish Year 1 Report
The PatentsInHumans team are delighted to publish our first annual report today. In this report,...