Elif Ertem Bekdemir

Elif focuses her practice on patent prosecution, patent portfolio development, prior art research and freedom to operate analyses in the fields of materials science, chemistry, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Before joining Cooley, Elif worked as a patent technical specialist at different law firms in Boston, where she assisted her clients in protecting and improving their intellectual property portfolios and managing complex patent portfolios.

Elif completed her PhD at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. During her PhD studies, she designed, synthesized and engineered nanoparticles to create innovative solutions to healthcare, environmental and industrial problems in the fields of endodontics, ion-sensing and catalysis, respectively. She formulated nanoparticle-based novel endodontic disinfection solutions with the collaboration of Dentsply Sirona. She also developed a convenient synthetic strategy for the preparation of a recyclable catalyst for esterification reactions, which showed a pronounced increase on the conversion rates. Her work has been published in various peer-reviewed journals – including ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, ChemComm, The Chemical Record and the Israel Journal of Chemistry.