This research, which is being carried out by Naomi Hawkins and funded by the Wellcome Trust, aims to study how intellectual property law impinges on the process of translation of genetics research into clinical practice. It is possible to determine the relevant law, to a certain extent, from international and national legislation and from case law. However, much of the translation process operates without the involvement of legal professionals and outside traditional legal fora.  Accordingly, traditional legal analysis cannot adequately investigate the law-in-practice. Qualitative methods will allow an examination of the law-in-practice.

Following the empirical phase of research, the project will further evaluate the legal rules and practice in terms of the policies and values underlying the legal rules, and in terms of the commercial consequences which may follow. It will seek to discover how far this situation applies to other areas of high technology. It will culminate in the development of guidelines as to necessary reforms to the law or the practices of the institutions in question.