The problem may have been compounded by the lack of citation in Shirikawa et als' work, for which we have no explaination. Interestingly, both parties are cited in a patent for an organic semiconductor battery. Now at least one biological material has been shown to have a strikingly large conductivity when correctly excited. This remarkable phenomenon occurs both in melanin made synthetically from tyrosine and in that extracted from a human melanoma. I.e., we made an active device, a bistable switch.
Computers are nothing but arrays of bistable switches.
This was a significant advance over passive doping, which you can also do with the melanins. Ironically, we considered this of little import in view of an active device. Nearly a decade passed before there was another report of an organic semiconductor used in an active device, a field-effect transistor. Some melanins even emit a flash of light as they switch, implyng possible electroluminesence.