sarah C. Kelly, PhD

Sarah leverages her global experience and technical background to protect clients' IP

Sarah C. Kelly, PhD, focuses her practice on freedom-to-operate analyses, patent application drafting, and prosecution. She leverages her technical background to identify opportunities to secure patents and manage patent portfolios, as well as to challenge patents held by competitors. To date, Sarah’s life-science patent experience spans treatments for arthritis, cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, HIV, and other diseases, as well as sequencing techniques, cell therapies, and antibodies, among other technologies.

Sarah previously worked as an associate in the Biotechnology and Chemical Group at Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox specializing in prosecution of US and foreign patent applications, preparing opinions of counsel, and challenging competitor patents using post-grant proceedings. While in law school, she completed a summer fellowship in the intellectual property group at Tilleke & Gibbins in Hanoi, Vietnam where she helped international clients develop their patent portfolios in Southeast Asia. Sarah also worked as a student attorney in the Maurer School of Law Intellectual Property Clinic and interned for the Indiana University Commercialization and Research Office under the University’s Chief IP Counsel.

While in graduate school, Sarah interned for MSU Technologies, Michigan State University’s technology transfer office.

Sarah performed her PhD research under Dr. Scott Counts at Michigan State University. Her academic research characterized the role of norepinephrine in preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Sarah earned her BS from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sarah’s undergraduate research characterized estrogen signaling in the hypothalamus.

Select Publications

“Pontine Arteriolosclerosis and Locus Coeruleus Oxidative Stress Differentiate Resilience from Mild Cognitive Impairment in a Clinical Pathologic Cohort”, J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 80(4):325-335 (2021) (coauthor).

“Locus Coeruleus Degeneration Induces Forebrain Vascular Pathology in a Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease”, J Alzheimers Dis. 70(2):371-388 (2019) (coauthor).

“Locus coeruleus cellular and molecular pathology during the progression of Alzheimer's disease”, Acta Neuropathol Commun 5(1):8 (2017) (coauthor).