Gene Patenting Panel

Please join us for a panel discussing gene patenting and related legal developments. Our distinguished panelists are as follows: Rebecca Dresser is the Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law and Professor of Ethics in Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. Since 1983, she has taught medical and law students about legal and ethical issues in end-of-life care, biomedical research, genetics, assisted reproduction, and related topics. Before coming to Washington University, she taught at Baylor College of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University. In 2003, she was a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Tokyo, where she taught a short course in law and bioethics. Dresser received her law degree from Harvard Law School. Her book, When Science Offers Salvation: Patient Advocacy and Research Ethics, was published by Oxford University Press in 2001. She also edited and contributed to Malignant: Medical Ethicists Confront Cancer (Oxford University Press, 2012). She is a co-author of The Human Use of Animals: Case Studies in Ethical Choice (Oxford University Press, 2d Edition, 2008) and Bioethics and Law: Cases, Materials and Problems (West Publishing Co., 2003). Dresser has written numerous journal articles, as well as commissioned papers for the National Academy of Sciences and National Bioethics Advisory Commission. She is Vice-Chair of the Hastings Center Fellows Council and an “At Law” columnist for the Hastings Center Report. From 2002-2009, she was a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. In 2011, she was appointed to a four-year term on the National Institutes of Health Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. Bonnie Weiss McLeod is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Cooley LLP and a member of the Firm\u27s Litigation Department. She joined the Firm in 2005 and is resident in the Washington DC office. Dr. McLeod has in-depth experience serving the life science industry in the preparation and prosecution of biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent applications, the preparation of requests for reexamination, and opinions involving noninfringement, invalidity and freedom to operate. She has managed many intellectual property due diligence analyses in collaboration with other Cooley partners in relation to public offerings, venture capital financing and life science corporate transactions. Dr. McLeod specializes in counseling clients ranging from nonprofits and small to mid-size biotech companies with regard to developing and maintaining a patent strategy that is consistent with business goals. Dr. McLeod is a former patent examiner in the biotechnology group of the US Patent and Trademark Office. Her practice focuses on the biotechnology arts, including molecular biology, cellular biology, bacterial and eukaryotic genetics, immunology and autoimmunity, recombinant antigens and vaccines, gene therapy, genetic engineering, genomics, microarray technologies, virology and RNA interference. Dr. McLeod is a graduate of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America, where she graduated magna cum laude. Dr. McLeod was awarded her PhD in molecular biology from the University of Maryland College Park in 1994. Dr. McLeod also completed post-doctoral work in the study of molecular mechanisms of costimulatory signaling in T cells. Dr. McLeod is admitted to practice in Virginia, Washington, DC and before the US Patent and Trademark Office, and is a member of AIPLA and the American Bar Association. She serves on the pro bono committee for Cooley\u27s Washington DC office and is actively involved in various pro bono matters. She is a frequent speaker at universities and local life science organizations and has spoken on topics including developing a global patent strategy, the business side of intellectual property, joint inventorship issues and developing a patent portfolio that will attract investors. Kevin E. Noonan is a partner with McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP. An experienced biotechnology patent lawyer, Dr. Noonan brings more than 20 years of extensive work as a molecular biologist studying high-technology problems in serving the unique needs of his clients. His practice involves all aspects of patent prosecution, interferences, and litigation. He represents pharmaceutical companies both large and small on a myriad of issues, as well as several universities in both patenting and licensing to outside investors. He has also filed amicus briefs to district courts, the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court involving patenting issues relevant to biotechnology. He has authored amicus curiae briefs in landmark patent and other cases in U.S. Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Noonan is a frequent speaker, commentator and author on a variety of intellectual property law topics. He is a founding author of the Patent Docs weblog, a site focusing on biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent law. In 2010, he was interviewed for a segment that aired on the television program 60 Minutes that addressed the issue of gene patenting. Harry Ostrer, M.D. is Professor of Pathology, Genetics and Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Director of Genetic and Genomic Testing at Montefiore Medical Center. He investigates the genetic basis of common and rare disorders, including disorders of sex development. In the diagnostic laboratory, he translates the findings of genetic discoveries into tests that can be used to identify people’s risks for having a disease prior to its occurrence or for predicting its outcome once it has occurred. Dr. Ostrer is a long-time investigator of the genetics of the Jewish people. In 2007, he organized the Jewish HapMap Project, an international effort to map and sequence the genomes of Jewish people. In a series of publications about Abraham’s Children in the Genome Era, Dr. Ostrer and his team of investigators demonstrated that the history of the Jewish Diasporas could be seen in the genomes of contemporary Jewish people. He is also an investigator of the genetics of Hispanic and Latino people, including Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Ecuadorians, and Colorado Hispanos. Dr. Ostrer is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He trained in pediatrics and medical genetics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and in molecular genetics at the National Institutes of Health. For 20 years, he was the director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Ostrer was a plaintiff in the recently successful lawsuit, Association of Molecular Pathology versus Myriad Genetics. Laura Pedraza-Fariña joined the Northwestern faculty in 2013 as an Assistant Professor of Law. She is also a faculty affiliate of the Science in Human Culture Program at Northwestern. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her Ph.D. in genetics from Yale University. Her research interests include intellectual property, patent law, and international organizations. Her scholarship on intellectual property law uses the methodology of history and sociology of science and technology to analyze and inform the design of patent law. Her current projects include an analysis of the implications of sociological studies on tacit scientific knowledge for the disclosure theory of patent law, and a study of how the specialized court structure of patent law influences the content of patent decisions