Debra J. Milasincic, Ph.D., is a partner in Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough’s Boston office where she practices intellectual property law. Her technical areas include biotechnology, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, genomics, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, immunotherapeutics, and RNAi.

Dr. Milasincic practices in all areas of biotechnology patent law including patent prosecution, opinion work, and licensing strategies. She has more than 13 years of experience assisting start-up and established biotechnology companies as well as prominent academic institutions with domestic and foreign patent prosecution. She advises clients in many aspects of intellectual property law including patent portfolio management, due diligence and freedom-to-operate analysis, re-examination prosecution, interference strategy and opposition tactics. Dr. Milasincic has particular knowledge in creating strong intellectual property portfolios for licensing by academic institutions and counsels both owners and licensees in deriving maximum benefit from early-stage technologies.

Dr. Milasincic received her doctorate degree and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in biochemistry, with an emphasis on cell biology, at Boston University School of Medicine and has published her research in several scientific journals.

Her notable experience includes:

• Managing the patent portfolios for a prestigious university medical school in the field of RNAi.
• Conducting an extensive IP due diligence review for a Japanese pharmaceutical company that resulted in its $325 million acquisition of a US antibody company.
• Managing the patent portfolios for a leading pharmaceutical company collaboration in the field of Alzheimer’s disease immunotherapeutics, including obtaining patent protection for several lead clinical candidate therapeutics.

She is a frequent speaker and has contributed to several publications including:

• Speaker, "An Overview of Terminal Disclaimers and the Impact on Patent Term Extension (PTE) and Patent Term Adjustment (PTA)," April 2010.
• Speaker, "The Patenting Process: From Invention Disclosure to Patent," April 2010.
• Speaker, “Project Management and IP,” Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, January 20, 2009.
• Co-author, “Critical proliferation-independent window for basic fibroblast growth factor repression of myogenesis via the p42/p44 MAPK signaling pathway,” J Biol Chem,276(17):13709-17. (2001)
• Co-author, “Stimulation of C2C12 myoblast growth by basic fibroblast growth factor and insulin-like growth factor 1 can occur via mitogen-activated protein kinase-dependent and –independent pathways,” Mol Cell Biol,16(11):5964-73. (1996)
• Co-author, “Anchorage-dependent control of muscle-specific gene expression in C2C12 mouse myoblasts,” In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim, 32(2):90-9. (1996)
• Co-author, “Dynamic equilibria between subcomponents of C1, the first component of human complement,” Mol Immunol., 29(1):45-51. (1992)

Admitted to the Massachusetts Bar, Dr. Milasincic is also admitted to practice before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  She is a member of several intellectual property law associations including the Boston Patent Law Association, where she is co-chair of the Patent Office Practice Committee. She is a member of the Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology and a member of the Women’s Bar Association. Dr. Milasincic is listed in Massachusetts Super Lawyers for 2009 and Rising Stars list (2005-2007).

She earned her Juris Doctor in 1997 from Suffolk University Law School. Dr. Milasincic earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1993 from Boston University School of Medicine. In 1986, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University.