Bitcoin Crowdfunding For Ebola Research And Open Access To Medical Research Papers

Kevin McKernan is a scientist working for the firm Courtagen Life Sciences, which specializes in genomic sequencing. (The process of “figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism’s DNA.” [source: Genome News Network]).

Previously, he worked on the Human Genome Project, the most notable and longest running genetics project in the history of mankind, the aim of which was to fully understand human DNA. His own company, Medicinal Genomics, was the first to sequence the DNA of the two primary strains of Cannabis. It was acquired by Courtagen in 2011. As such, McKernan mostly works on diseases like epilepsy and largely works with children.

“I have come to recognize that the [copyright] system doesn’t work,” McKernan said in a recent interview with Let’s Talk Bitcoin! Believing that invention, innovation, and the finding of cures happen as a result of necessity rather than incentive, he feels that copyright law has come to actually slow down and inhibit progress, although the copyright and patent systems are supposedly designed to achieve the opposite. “[It is] really tough to swallow when you’re dealing with health care. When patents start getting in front of children getting access to medicine,” he says...