The SNP consortium: background and context

The SNP Consortium ('TSC') was a nonprofit research collaboration formed in 1999 to identify, map, and publicly release human genomic markers known as 'single nucleotide polymorphisms' (SNPs). The project was funded by a group of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and information technology companies, together with the Wellcome Trust, which collectively contributed $53 million to the project. TSC was the rare scientific undertaking that completed its work ahead of schedule, under budget, and with far more results than planned. This essay describes TSC, its background, legal structure, and novel 'protective' patent strategy, which have served as models for later research collaborations in a range of scientific fields.