MEDIA ADVISORY

ANN ARBOR—The U.S. Supreme Court considered a case involving the biotech firm Myriad Genetics, which insists it has the right to patent two genes linked to breast cancer, and decided on Monday to send the case back to the appeals court.

The following University of Michigan experts are available to discuss the case:

Shobita Parthasarathy, associate professor at the Ford School of Public Policy, does research on governance of transformative science and technology, both in the United States and abroad. Current areas of interest include: comparative and international politics of genetics and biotechnology; the politics of the patent system; regulation of genetic medicine; the governance of geoengineering; and the relationship between science and democracy. She has authored a book, “Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology and the Comparative Politics of Health Care.” She can be reached at [email protected] or (773) 882-3897.

Dr. Sofia Merajver, professor of internal medicine at the Medical School, directs the Breast and Ovarian Risk Evaluation Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her program counsels people on their genetic risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer and provides genetic testing for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. She can be reached via Nicole Fawcett at Health System Public Relations, [email protected] or (734) 764-2220.

Rebecca Eisenberg, professor at the Law School, regularly teaches courses in patent law, trademark law and FDA law, and runs workshops on intellectual property and student scholarship. She has previously taught courses on torts, legal regulation of science and legal issues in biopharmaceutical research. She has written and lectured extensively about the role of intellectual property in biopharmaceutical research, publishing in scientific journals as well as law reviews. She can be reached at [email protected] or (734) 763-1372.