Tu Phan-Kerr, Ph.D. Associate

Tu A. Phan-Kerr is an associate at Sughrue Mion and works out of the Washington office. Tu’s practice focuses on worldwide procurement, defense and enforcement of patents in the biotechnology, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Tu's experience includes patent prosecution in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, bioinformatics, organic chemistry, and inorganic chemistry.  Tu's experience also extends to the preparation of opinions for infringement and invalidity in the areas of pharmaceuticals and chemistry, and patentability opinions in the area of chemistry.

District of Columbia
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

George Mason University (J.D.  2005)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Postdoctoral Fellow  1999)
East Carolina University School of Medicine (Ph.D. Pharmacology, 1998)
Old Dominion University (B.S. Biochemistry, 1992)

American Society of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics Graduate Student Travel Award (1998)
Doctoral Student Association Research Award (1996)
C.S. Sherwood III Scholarship for Excellence in Science (1991)

Tu's dissertation research involved construction and use of antisense DNA molecules to target and alter adenosine A1 receptor protein and mRNA expression in the rodent brain associated with ethanol-induced motor incoordination.  Tu has reported her results in proceedings throughout the world.


Associations
American Intellectual Property Law Association
American Bar Association
Women's Bar Association

• Autoradiographic evidence that intrastriatal administration of adenosine A1 receptor antisense oligodeoxynucleotide decreases adenosine A1 receptors in the rat striatum and cortex, Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res., 72(2), 226-230 (1999).
• Kappa-opioid receptor antisense oligonucleotide injected into rat hippocampus causes hypertension, Eur. J. Pharmacol., 377(1):  57-61 (1999).
• Intrastriatal adenosine A1 receptor antisense oligodeoxynucleotide inhibits striatal and cortical adenosine A1 receptor. Experimental Biology '98, San Francisco, CA, April 1998.
• Intrastriatal adenosine A1 receptor antisense oligodeoxynucleotide blocks ethanol-induced motor incoordination, Eur. J. Pharmacol., 323(2/3), R5-R7 (1997).
• Pharmacologic enhancement of random skin flap survival by prostaglandin E2, Arch. Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg., 120, 56-60 (1994).
• Long-term pretreatment with pentoxifylline increases random skin flap survival, Arch. Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg., 120, 65-71.
• Changes in Striatal D2 Receptor Binding in Post-Mortem Rat Brain, North Carolina Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience Annual Neuroscience Day, Durham, NC, 1994.