Kathleen M. Helm-Bychowski, Ph.D.

Overview

Kathleen Helm-Bychowski applies her breadth of technical and professional experience in chemistry and biotechnology to assist clients in all areas of patent practice, including patent validity and freedom-to-operate issues, competitor patent landscapes, and patent prosecution.  Dr. Helm-Bychowski has experience with technologies including novel chemical compounds, particularly small molecule pharmaceuticals, multi-step syntheses, polymorphs, and pharmaceutical formulations of all types directed to a wide range of therapies.  Other technologies include antibody production and purification, biosimilars, personal care product formulations, corn oil and ethanol processing, ink jet inks, artificial sweeteners, processes for copper compounds, and gummy nutraceuticals.

Experience

Dr. Helm-Bychowski has 15 years of experience with preparing legal opinions including patent landscape reports, infringement clearance opinions, due diligence, and validity opinions.  She has provided technical expertise during litigations, including performing document review, developing arguments and strategies, and working with experts.  In addition, Dr. Helm-Bychowski has prepared and prosecuted U.S. and foreign patent applications, and has been involved in an interference proceeding.

Representative matters include: pharmaceutical active compounds, syntheses, and formulations, biosimilars, personal care product formulations, processes for copper compounds, ink jet inks, and an interference pertaining to a method of making copper carbonate salts.

Prior to joining Leydig, Voit and Mayer, Dr. Helm-Bychowski was an assistant professor of biochemistry and chemistry at DePaul University, and a visiting research professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Her research involved using biochemical techniques such as immunochemistry, restriction enzyme mapping, PCR, and DNA sequencing to study the evolution of organisms, macromolecules, and nuclear/mitochondrial interactions.

Education

• University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D. in Biochemistry, 1984
• DePaul University, B.S. in Chemistry, with highest honors, 1975

Admissions

• Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Honors

• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award, DePaul University
• NIH Pre-doctoral Trainee, University of California, Berkeley
• Lando Summer Research Fellow, Chemistry Department, University of Minnesota

Professional Affiliations

• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Chemical Society
  • Member of Division of Biochemistry and Division of Chemistry & the Law
• American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
• Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO)

Articles, Publications & Lectures

• Collaborated with Keith Miller of (art)N in developing DNA hologram for exhibit “Genetics: Decoding Life” (2001) The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL.

• Helm-Bychowski, K., Vaeth, J, Yedlinski, J., Shah, K. and Putzke, A. (1999) Evolutionary Insights from Sequences of Mitochondrial Protein Genes in Corvine Birds. Contributed poster to the 6th Annual Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology Symposium, Iowa State University, Ames, Nov. 5-6.
• Developed and displayed the piece Yellow-throated Vireo DNA Sequencing Gel in the exhibit “The Natural Order of Things: Visualizing Evolutionary Theory”. (1998) DePaul University Art Gallery, Sept. 25-Dec. 11.
• Cracraft, Joel, Feinstein, Julie, Vaughn, Jeffrey and Helm-Bychowski, Kathleen. (1998) Sorting Out Tigers (Panthera tigris): Mitochondrial Sequences, Nuclear Inserts, Systematics, and Conservation Genetics. Animal Conservation. 1: 139-150.
• Helm-Bychowski, K. and J. Cracraft (1993) Recovering Phylogenetic Signal from DNA Sequences: Relationships Within the Corvine Assemblage (Class Aves) Using the mtDNA Cytochrome b Gene. Journal of Molecular Biology & Evolution. 10: 1196 – 1214.
• Helm-Bychowski, K. M. and J. Cracraft. (1992) Relationships Within Corvine Assemblage Inferred from Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Sequences. Contributed paper to Joint Meeting of Society of Systematic Biology (SSB), Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), and American Society of Naturalists (ASN), Berkeley, California.
• Helm-Bychowski, K. M. and J. Cracraft. (1991) Usefulness of Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Sequences for Phylogenetic Inference. Contributed paper to Joint Meeting of SSB, SSE, and ASN, Hilo, Hawaii.
• Shields, G. F. and K. M. Helm-Bychowski (1988) Mitochondrial DNA of Birds, Current Ornithology, Vol. 5, pp. 273-295, (R. F. Johnston, ed.) Plenum, New York.
• Helm-Bychowski, K. M. and A. C. Wilson (1988) Temporal Calibration of Nuclear DNA Evolution in Phasianoid Birds: Evidence from Restriction Maps, in Acta XIX Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici, Vol. II, pp. 1986-1904, (Henri Ouellet, ed) University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa, Canada.
• Helm-Bychowski, K. M. and A. C. Wilson (1986) Rates of Nuclear DNA Evolution in Pheasant-like Birds: Evidence from Restriction Maps. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83: 688-692.
• Wilson, A. C., R. L. Cann, S. M. Carr, M. George, U. B. Gyllenstein, K. M. Helm-Bychowski, R. G. Higuchi, S. R. Palumbi, E. M. Prager, R. D. Sage, and M. Stoneking (1985) Mitochondrial DNA & Two Perspectives on Evolutionary Genetics. Bio. J. Linn. Soc. 26: 375-400
• Helm-Bychowski, K. M. and A. C. Wilson. (1985) Using the Fossil Record to Calibrate the Rate of Nuclear DNA Evolution in Phasianoid Birds. Invited paper at First International Meeting on Avian Paleontology, Lyons, France.
• McCourt, Richard M., Karol, Kenneth G., Bell, Jeremy, Helm-Bychowski, Kathleen M., Grajewska, Anna, Wojciechowski, Martin F. and Hoshaw, Robert W. (2000) Phylogeny of the Conjugating Green Algae (Zygnemophyceae) Based on rbcL Sequences. Phycol. 36: 747-758.

Practices

• Patent Preparation and Prosecution

Technologies

• Biotechnology
• Chemical Technologies
• Pharmaceuticals and Biosimilars