Center agrees to share patents with Harvard

A Korean research center signed an agreement with Harvard Medical School yesterday to co-own patents on next-generation medical equipment. Cho Zang-hee, the head of a brain science research center at Gachon Medical School in Incheon, and Ferenc A. Jolesz, a radiology professor at Harvard Medical School, signed a contract in Seoul yesterday that will allow both institutes to jointly own medical radiology equipment and an operation system, which are expected to generate several million dollars in annual sales. Mr. Cho is currently developing a medical device that combines both Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) while Mr. Jolesz is developing a high-tech medical operation system, the Advance Multimodality Image-Guided Operating Room (AMIGO). Mr. Cho said his development is for research while Mr. Jolesz’s AMIGO project could be used in medical operations. The Korean doctor said the joint ownership of patents was made to prevent inefficient expenditures. Mr. Jolesz said with the new developments, not only could doctors find cancer cells, they could remove them without invasive surgery. Mr. Cho’s research is financed by Seoul’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Health and Welfare and Siemens, while Mr. Jolesz is financed by the Pentagon, U.S. National Cancer Institute, U.S. National Institutes of Health and General Electric. Both teams plan to finish their projects within four years. by Park Bang-ju, Lee Ho-jeong