Work closely with Gates Ag One IP team members, in-house counsel, outside counsel, discovery partners, and product development partners to generate IP to support the advancement of breakthrough science to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and their communities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Work with Washington University faculty and staff, in-house counsel, and OTM business development professionals to obtain and evaluate invention disclosures. Prepare and prosecute US and international patent applications. Work with licensees and outside patent counsel to develop and implement patent prosecution strategies for intellectual property. Support researchers regarding intellectual property matters related to grant proposals for funding from public and private sources. Conduct prior art searches and other patent-related analyses. Manage patent scientists and patent paralegal interns.

Draft and prosecute domestic and international patents, manage prosecution dockets, evaluating invention disclosures, prepare patentability analyses, and strategic planning.

Developed and applied magnetic resonance imaging techniques to study cancer to provide non-invasive monitoring of growth and ablation of tumors to serve as a tool in developing new cancer therapies. Diverse background in the development of animal models of human disease, design of imaging coils, Matlab and pulse sequence programming, small animal surgery, and tissue culturing.Applied a novel quantitative blood oxygen level dependent magnetic resonance imaging (qBOLD MRI) technique on small animal models of brain cancer to non-invasively determined the difference between actively growing tumor (hypoxic), necrosis, and hemorrhage. This will ultimately facilitate treatment by predicting treatment outcomes and therapeutic response in human brain cancer patients.Implemented a new method of dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI on mouse models of brain cancer to develop a technique that defines tumor margins in brain cancer more effectively than current clinical methods. This new method will better define classification and grading of tumors, predict therapeutic outcome, aid in the guidance of therapeutic management, and monitor therapeutic response in human patients.

Thesis title: "Amplifying the NMR signatures of host-guest interactions and molecular structure using liquid-crystalline matrices and polarization enhancement of nuclear spins".I also studied relaxation behavior of coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) for use as pH sensors and targeted MRI contrast agents. Functionalized NPs can help verify areas of tumor according to pH or chemical expression in a tumor.Additionally, I was trained in the use of lasers and optical-pumping apparatus to generate laser-polarized xenon to produce a 10^4-10^5-fold enhancement in Xe nuclear spin polarization and NMR sensitivity. Applications include high resolution xenon lung imaging for enhanced tissue contrast for the study of lung cancer and emphysema.

Characterization of cryptophane host-guest inclusion complexes oriented in liquid-crystalline solvents.

Fulbright fellowship to collaborate with the Dutasta Group in studying model system for host guest interactions in supramolecular complexes using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and organic synthetic techniques in making cryptophanes. Synthesized and characterized novel cryptophane complexes for potential use as chemical storage devices, xenon biosensors, and drug delivery. The ideal pharmacokinetics of cryptophane binding with small molecules and the ability for functionalization show promise for use in targeted drug delivery and xenon MRI techniques.