Catherine Cowley

Katie is a Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Litigator and is a special counsel and a member of the Patent Counseling & Prosecution practice group in Cooley's London office. She has many years of experience in dealing with patents and applications in the life sciences sector and in this time has handled most aspects of patent practice, including drafting and prosecuting patent applications before the WIPO, the EPO, the UKIPO and other national patent offices, patent infringement and validity, and freedom-to-operate. She also enjoys complex opposition and appeal work and frequently represents clients in oral proceedings at the EPO.

Katie is particularly interested in molecular biology, biotechnology (including plant biotechnology), immunology and antibody technology, vaccines, stem cells, pharmaceuticals, nanoparticles, diagnostics and therapeutics and medical devices.

Katie has worked for a broad spectrum of clients, including academic institutions, university derived spin-out companies, SMEs and large multinational companies.

Katie is an honours graduate in Molecular Biology and obtained a PhD in Molecular Genetics from the MRC’s National Institute for Medical Research (which is now the major contributor of The Francis Crick Institute). Her doctoral thesis involved developing and using advanced cloning techniques, sequencing, gene mapping and protein expression. Katie has worked in laboratories in Germany and the UK specializing in the high-resolution physical mapping of genes. Her postdoctoral research involved the mapping and identification of genes associated with particular diseases.