Sandra A. Sciascia-Zirger is an experienced patent agent and a member of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical teams in Ballard Spahr's Patents Group. Sandra has sound knowledge in the areas of molecular biology, genetics, autoimmunity, gene therapy, and immunology. She is experienced in drafting and prosecuting both U.S. and foreign patent applications in the biological sciences. She regularly assists in preparing patentability opinions and in maintaining client patent portfolios.
As part of her doctoral research in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Kansas, Sandra developed a toxin therapy to alleviate disease symptoms in an SLE mouse model, and a new animal model for Lupus by inducing SLE-like symptoms in wild type Balb/c mice. As a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Gene Therapy Research Institute in Los Angeles, she used viral vectors to transport transgenes of interest into murine brains and studied transgene expression levels and stability in the presence and absence of a peripheral immune response.
Sandra is the former Director of Research at GeneCure Biotechnologies in Atlanta, where she developed infectious disease vaccines using lentiviral vectors and directed a Phase I clinical trial for a therapeutic HIV vaccine.
Services
Professional Highlights
Recognition & Accomplishments
USPTO, Patent Pro Bono Achievement Certificate, 2022
Publications
Co-author, "Novel Gene Therapeutic Approaches to Brain Cancer," Gene Therapy For Neurological Disorders, Chapter 13, Published By Taylor & Francis Group, 2006
Co-author, "Immunization of Nonautoimmune Mice with DNA Binding Domains Of The Largest Subunit Of RNA Polymerase I Results In Production of Anti-Dsdna and Anti-Sm/RNP Antibodies," Autoimmunity, February 2007
Co-author, "Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Thymidine Kinase Sequence Fused to the Lacz Gene Increases Levels of {Beta}-Galactosidase Activity per Genome of High-Capacity but Not First-Generation Adenoviral Vectors In Vitro and In Vivo," Journal Of Virology, February 2009
Credentials
Education
University of Kansas (Ph.D. 2003, molecular genetics)
Course Instructor, "Genetics Laboratory"
University of Montevallo (B.Sc. 1997, biology, cum laude)
Admissions
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office