Dr. Sanandan Malhotra focuses his practice on U.S. and foreign patent preparation and prosecution in the fields of life sciences with a focus on cancer, genetics, cellular & molecular biology, immunology and virology. Additionally, he has training in biochemistry, biophysics, and chemistry.
Prior to joining the firm, Sanandan conducted his PhD research at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He made use of a forward genetic screen, using the avian retrovirus ALV, to identify novel cancer associated genes. His research work lead to the discovery of a novel gene, named by him as TERT anti-sense promoter associated (TAPAS) RNA. TAPAS functions as a long non-coding RNA, and was validated to play a role in many different human cancers.
As a part of his dissertation work, Sanandan published several articles in top scientific journals, including Journal of Virology, PLOS Pathogens, and Oncotarget. His work has also been presented at different international conferences such as the Retroviruses meeting (Cold Spring Harbor, USA) and the Retroviral Pathogenesis meeting (Wolfsburg, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany).
He graduated summa cum laude with research distinction in molecular genetics from the Ohio State University, where he conducted research work in malaria as an undergraduate research assistant. He was also awarded the international student “Morgan Anfinsen” Fellowship and the Dean’s teaching Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University for academic and research excellence.
With a research background in both fundamental and translational aspects of biology, Dr. Malhotra has the ability to understand and interpret inventions in the ever-changing field of biotechnology, which serve him well towards his practice of patent drafting and prosecution work.