Katharina is a registered patent agent who concentrates her practice on US and international patent prosecution and counseling for clients in the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries. Her work includes handling all phases of the patenting process, preparing freedom to operate and patentability analyses, advising on IP licensing and contracts, and conducting IP diligence. She has a research background in biology and biochemistry and experience with a broad range of innovations involving large molecule, gene, and immune therapies, as well as allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy with a focus on oncology applications.

Prior to joining Mintz, Katharina was a science advisor and registered patent agent at a global law firm, where she handled patent prosecution, freedom to operate analyses, and IP diligence. Earlier, while working as a patent agent and scientist at a California-based biotechnology company, she focused on CRISPR-Cas genome editing technologies and allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies targeting hematological cancers.

Katharina conducted her doctoral research on protein cell sorting mechanisms in bacterial and plant cells. After earning her PhD, Katharina served as a postdoctoral fellowship at Genentech, Inc., a US biotechnology company based in California. In that role, she was involved in the development of neutralizing antibodies that target viral entry as well as antibodies that target checkpoint inhibitor signaling on T cells.