A researcher working on the Human Genome Project is using Napster technology, and he's not looking for T3 connections to download Moby.
Dr. Lincoln Stein, an associate professor of bioinformatics at the Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York, is investigating ways to use Napster-type technology to allow scientists to share their discoveries of the genome.
"I was very interested when I saw Napster," Stein said. "It has a similar architecture (to what we use now), but it allows for 'peer-to-peer' data exchange and it dawned on me that it would be marvelous for our annotation system."
Peer-to-peer data exchange allows users to link directly to each other's computers to share files using a centralized server system. The technology has become extremely popular among college students and other music lovers as an easy way to find and download MP3 files on the Internet.
But it's extremely controversial. The Recording Industry Association of America has filed a lawsuit against Napster saying its music transfer violates copyright laws.
Stein, who was looking for better ways to manage the information coming out of the HGP, heard about Napster while listening to National Public Radio one evening. Despite his enthusiasm for the technology's potential, he's a bit apprehensive about running his idea by his genomics colleagues.
"I haven't dared to yet. It's so associated with piracy at the moment I want to wait for the noise to die down," he said.
Napster likes the idea, and said it's also exploring ways to use the filesharing technology in a wider range of applications, according to Liz Brooks, a spokeswoman for Napster.
"We love the idea of this technology being used to share essential scientific discoveries," Brooks said.
Gnutella, a spinoff of Napster, would be an even better match for exchanging genomics research, Stein said. The Gnutella project, however, was shut down almost as soon as it was launched last week.
That software was designed to create self-perpetuating networks that grow independent of the company's server. Users could connect to other "servant" computers, creating a chain of participating users –- an architecture that would allow for one-to-one or many-to-many connections.
"Gnutella works out over multiple servers which replicate the information -- that's a very exciting technology because what we have to deal with in the HGP is data that keeps growing," Stein said. "We now have about 5 terabytes of information and we're only done with two-thirds of the sequencing. It will grow an order of magnitude more."
Sequencing the genome is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to genomics research. On its own, the human genome map is a jumble of Cs, As, Gs, and Ts -- letters that represent the sequence of human genes but don't explain how they function. The map is the starting point for mining genetic information, but genomics researchers must work from there to discover drugs and diagnostics for disease.
The more information researchers can share, the faster these discoveries will come.
"The larger genome centers have the wherewithal to put up servers to publish their data electronically," Stein said. "Smaller, independent biology labs are clients of that and they download the information."
The smaller labs, however, don't have a mechanism to publish their own findings electronically. That's where the Napster/Gnutella technology would come in handy.
But Stein hopes the technology will be used by more than just human genome researchers.
"My hope is that it would be used by all biologists. I would hope that even bright high school students would be able to contribute," he said.
Companies such as Incyte and Celera charge from thousands to millions of dollars for their databases containing genomics information. Whether a Napster-like technology could infringe on revenue from the sale of such database subscriptions remains to be seen.
"It comes down to how the companies with genomic information make money. For companies like Incyte, or partly [for] Celera I think the answer is yes," said Cyrus Harmon, president of Neomorphic, a genomics company in Berkeley, California.
Companies looking to patent genes and gene function to generate profits would probably not be affected, he added.
"I think this is somewhat inevitable -- the information is going to be out there," Harmon said.
Celera and Incyte declined to comment.
Stein said he'll have to write his own code based on the Napster/Gnutella basic protocols to enable searches specific to genomics data.
He said he's negotiating with some companies about developing the technology but wouldn't mention any names.
