The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) held its 23rd Mid-Winter Institute at the La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California. The January 26–29, 2000, conference was entitled “A New Millennium of IP Practice: Meeting the Challenge of Protecting and Enforcing IP Rights in Emerging and Converging Technologies.”1 The Institute focused on protecting and enforcing intellectual property in emerging technologies developed through the rapid convergence of computer science and biotechnology. The Institute brought together distinguished individuals from the scientific and academic communities and private practice, as well as representatives from the U.S., European, and Japanese Patent Offices. Some of the topics covered were bioinformatics, USPTO implementation of the newly enacted Patent Law Reform Act, new directions in trademark law, e-commerce patents, copyright evolution, and bioethics. The Institute was organized around three broad topics. The first was the changes in the statutory law and the regulations regarding patent prosecution. The second was practical discussions of USPTO policy and implementation. The third was an introduction to emerging technologies, including the rapid convergence of computers and biotechnology. The author of this paper was unable to attend every track offered during the four-day conference and is not reporting on all of the discussions on how to implement some of the guidelines. Instead, this paper concentrates on the Institute as it pertains to new and existing issues in biotechnology patent law. Track 4 of the Wednesday session, entitled “Advanced Chem/Biotech Practice: Genomics, Bioinformatics, Cloning, Stem Cells, Chimeras” began with an introduction by Cathryn Campbell, Ph.D., of Campbell & Flores LLP in San Diego. Dr. Campbell then introduced Christopher J. Palermo, of McDermott, Will & Emery in San Jose, to discuss the patenting implications of bioinformatics. Mr. Palermo’s talk, entitled “Disclosing & Claiming Software Aspects of Bioinformatics Inventions,” defined “bioinformatics” as the application of information technology and mathematics to biology. With the development of this emerging technology, IP practitioners are required to have hybrid skills that combine a familiarity with biotechnology and computers. In order to comply with 35 USC §112, ¶1, the written description must be adequate for both the biotechnology and the computer aspects of the invention.