With a background in biology and biochemistry, Dr. Amma Addai, Ph.D., supports life sciences clients with patent portfolio development, including intellectual property strategy, patentability analyses and patent prosecution. In addition to her patent prosecution work, Dr. Addai provides clients technological advice in support of validity, infringement, and patentability litigation and opinions in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and diagnostics areas.

Prior to joining MBHB, Dr. Addai was a graduate researcher at Meharry Medical College, where she worked in biochemistry, immunology and virology. This experience provided Dr. Addai with a deep understanding of all areas of life sciences, which she applies to her work with clients ranging from Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies to universities and individual inventors. Dr. Addai’s molecular and biochemical expertise includes:

• Molecular cloning and mutagenesis
• Protein expression and purification
• Virus propagation
• Genetic manipulation of microorganisms
• Immunoassays
• Flow cytometry
• Quantitative PCR
• Mass spectrometry

While earning a master’s degree in patent law, Dr. Addai spent time as a research analyst at the University of Notre Dame Office of Technology Transfer wherein she evaluated the patentability of disclosures, conducted marketability searches, and identified potential commercial partners. Under the USPTO Law School Clinic Certification Pilot Program, she served as a certified legal intern at the University of Notre Dame Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic where she interviewed and counseled clients on various intellectual property related issues, performed patentability searches and drafted patent applications.

At MBHB, Dr. Addai is a member of the diversity and inclusion committee and women’s group. In 2021, she was selected by the firm as a recipient of MBHB’s Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship. She is also a member of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court, an organization focused on fostering professionalism, ethics and civility in intellectual property law. Outside of work, Dr. Addai enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, listening to music and brushing up on her expertise as a quadrilingual.

• Successfully prepared and prosecuted several patent applications for Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies.
• Managed patent portfolios for a number of universities and individual inventors.
• Advised clients on infringement, validity, and freedom to operate issues.
• Conducted freedom to operate and patentability analyses for several Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies.

• The Richard Linn American Inn of Court
• Women in BIO Chicago
• Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC)

• MBHB Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship recipient, 2021
• The Richard Linn American Inn of Court Mark T. Banner Scholarship recipient, 2021
• American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Intellectual Property Law Scholarship, 2019-2021

Balasubramaniam M, Zhou J, Addai A, Martinez P, Pandhare J, Aiken C, Dash C (2018). PF74 Inhibits HIV-1 Integration by Altering The Composition of the Preintegration Complex. J Virol. pii: JVI.01741-18.

Balasubramaniam, M., Davids, B., Addai, A.B., Pandhare, J., and Dash, C. (2017). Measurement of in vitro integration activity of HIV-1 preintegration complex. J. Vis. (120), 54581.

Addai, A.B., Pandhare, J., Paromov, V., Mantri, C.K., Pratap, S., and Dash, C. (2015). Cocaine directly modulates HIV-1 integration in primary CD4+ T cells: Implications in HIV-1 pathogenesis among drug abusing patients. J Leukoc Biol 97(4): 779-790.

Pandhare, J., Addai, A.B., Mantri, C.K., Hager, C., Smith, R.M., Barnett, L., Villalta, F., Kalams, S.A., and Dash, C. (2014). Cocaine enhances HIV-1-induced CD4 (+) T-cell apoptosis: implications in disease progression in cocaine- abusing HIV-1 patients. Am J Pathol 184, 927-936.

Walker, S.A., Addai, A.B., Mathis, M., and Ramesh, A. (2007). Effect of dietary fat on metabolism and DNA adduct formation after acute oral exposure of F-344 rats to fluoranthene. J Nutr Biochem 18:236-249.