Christopher D. Southgate, Ph.D. Patent Agent

Dr. Christopher Southgate is a Patent Agent specializing in Biotechnology with 5+ years law firm experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications in the field of biotechnology, including applications relating to novel signal transduction pathways, cell-based assays, diagnostic assays, small molecule drug discovery, stem cell biology, animal disease models and medical devices among others. Christopher has also assisted counsel with due diligence, freedom-to-operate and patent landscape analyses for venture capital firms and biotech start-up companies. Christopher is currently a J.D. candidate specializing in Intellectual Property Law (Class of 2012). 

As a Ph.D. research Scientist, Christopher acquired 12+ years post-graduate discovery research experience at Harvard University (Post-doctoral fellow), University of Massachusetts Medical School (AmFar Scholar), Harvard Biological Laboratories (Research Associate), Harvard Medical School (Instructor in the Dept. of Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology and Dept of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) and at Tufts University Medical School (Assistant Professor of Medicine).  Christopher’s research  investigated many complex biological problems including eukaryotic transcription regulation, retrovirus activation, stem cell differentiation, angiogenesis, hematopoiesis and mammalian development and resulted in several first authored publications in major peer-reviewed scientific journals including Nature, Nature Genetics, EMBO J. and Genes & Development.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

American University, Washington College of Law (J.D.  2012)
Harvard University (Postdoctoral Fellow  ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1989-1990)
University of Massachusetts Medical Center(currently HHMI) ; AmFAR Scholar 1990-1993)
University of Zurich, Switzerland- Institute for Molecular Biology II (Ph.D. Molecular Biology, 1989)
University of Lausanne, Switzerland (B.S. and M.S. Biology, 1981)

Scholar Award of the American Foundation of AIDS Research (AmFAR)

NRSA – NIH National Research Service Award
Distinguished Brief Award, Suffolk University Law School (Legal Practice Skills)
Suffolk University Law School Dean's list, 2009-2010

Dr. Southgate specializes in the technical areas of molecular and cellular biology, especially regulation of transcription, signal transduction, mouse genetics, stem cell biology and tissue engineering. 


Associations

Boston Patent Law Association

National Association of Patent Practitioners
Patent Information Users Group, Inc.

Co-inventor on International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/US2008/005742, U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12/598,047 & U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/927,596 entitled MULTIPOTENT STEM CELLS AND USES THEREOF (Assignee: The Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Inc., a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School).

“Targeted disruption of the murine erythroid band 3 gene results in spherocytosis and severe haemolytic anaemia despite a normal membrane skeleton,” with Chisti, A. H., Mitchel B., Yi S. J., and Palek J., Nature Genetics 1996, 14:227-230.

“Delineating minimal protein domains and promoter elements for transcriptional activation by lentivirus Tat proteins,” with Green M. R., J Virol 1995, 69; 2605-2610.

“The type 1 human immunodeficiency virus Tat binding protein is a transcriptional activator belonging to an additional family of evolutionary conserved genes,” with Ohana B., Moore P.A., Ruben S. M., Green M. R., and Rosen C. A., Proc Nat Aca Sci USA 1993, 90; 138-142.

“The HIV-1 Tat protein activates transcription from an upstream DNA-binding site: Implications for Tat function,” Keystone Symposium, Colorodo Springs, 1992 - also published with Green M. R., in Genes and Dev 1991, 5:2496-2507.

“Activation of transcription by HIV-1 Tat protein tethered to nascent RNA through another protein,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Keystone Symposia Meeting on RNA Splicing, 1990 - also published with Zapp M. L. and Green M. R. in Nature, 1990, 345:640-642.

“In Vivo and in vitro expression of U7 snRNA genes: Cis and trans-acting elements required for RNA polymerase II-directed transcription,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Keystone Symposia Meeting on Retroviruses, 1988 - also published with Busslinger M. in EMBO J 1989, 8:539-549.