Kathleen R. Mekjian, Ph.D.

Kathleen R. Mekjian, Ph.D. is a partner in our San Diego office. Her practice is focused on intellectual property matters related to the biotechnology, medical device, chemistry, and pharmaceutical industries. Kathleen has extensive experience in technologies such as nucleic acid based diagnostic assays, adult stem cell therapeutics, recombinant vaccines, RNA interference (siRNAs and miRNAs), therapeutic antibodies, nutritional supplements, high-throughput screening, and various medical and diagnostic devices.

Kathleen handles both domestic and foreign patent matters, and has expertise in accelerated examination in the U.S., inter partes reexaminations, ex parte reexaminations, foreign opposition proceedings, and domestic and foreign appeal proceedings. Kathleen’s practice also encompasses various aspects of client counseling, including conducting clearance and freedom-to-operate analyses, drafting invalidity and non-infringement opinions, and representing clients that have been targets and buyers in mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to attending law school, Kathleen received her Doctor of Philosophy in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Emory University in 1998 for work related to developmental pathways in bacteria. She continued her research in bacterial genetics as Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her post-doctoral research focused on signal transduction.

Dr. Mekjian joined the firm in 2004 and became partner in 2010.