Viola T. Kung
Viola is skilled at patent prosecution and patent counseling in the chemical, pharmaceutical, diagnostics, biotechnology, and small molecule arenas.
A seasoned inventor herself, Viola Kung assists chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech clients with their patent needs. She is experienced in patent prosecution, reexamination, and appeal proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Viola's other counseling activities include opinion work, freedom-to-operate, validity, and due diligence evaluation.
Viola's practice has spanned industries and products, including methods for treating cancer, inflammatory diseases, ophthalmic diseases, neurological diseases, neuropsychiatric diseases, pulmonary diseases, autoimmune diseases, and pain. She has also worked on matters involving immunotherapy, CAR T-cells, checkpoint inhibitors, pharmaceutical formulations, new chemical entities, chemical processes, medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, next-generation sequencing, gene expression, tumor suppressor genes, fusion proteins, CRISPR/Cas9, and carbon nanotubes.
Viola is a scientist by training and worked in research and development labs for more than 15 years. Through her extensive research and industrial training as a development director and research scientist, Viola has broad research and development experience in pharmaceutical formulation, assay development, in vitro diagnostics, protein and DNA interaction, lipid bilayer membrane, conjugation chemistry, and molecular biology.
Viola is an inventor of a total of 21 U.S. patents in the areas of immunoassay, conjugation chemistry, liposome formulation, DNA detection methods, and medical devices. Her scientific work has been published in many scientific journals.
Areas of focus
Education & Credentials
Education
- Santa Clara University School of Law, J.D., 2000
- University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., Chemistry/Biochemistry, 1978
- National Taiwan University, B.S., Chemistry, 1974
Bar and Court Admissions
-
California
-
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Related Employment
- Howrey LLP, Palo Alto, CA, Partner, Intellectual Property
- Rae-Venter Law Group, PC, Palo Alto, CA, Patent Agent, Intellectual Property
- Metra Biosystems, Inc., Development Director
- Molecular Devices Corp., Senior Scientist
- Liposome Technology, Inc., Senior Scientist
- International Immunoassay Laboratories, Scientist
- Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Research Scientist
Professional Recognition
Ranked by Chambers USA as "America's Leading Lawyer" for Life Sciences; IP/Patent Litigation 2016-2024
Recommended in Intellectual Asset Management Patent 1000, 2016-2024
Named as one of the "Best Performing Attorneys" by Patexia’s Patent Intelligence Report, 2023
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America: Patent Law, 2016-2023
Recognized by Managing IP as an IP Star, 2013-2014, 2016-2024
Recognized by Managing IP as a Top 250 Women in IP, 2013, 2014
Named by the Daily Journal as a "Top 25 Intellectual Property Portfolio Managers" in 2010, 2012
Impact
Professional Leadership
- American Bar Association, Member
News
Professional Experience
Experience
U.S. Patent 11,725,053
The invention is directed to a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) fusion protein comprising: (1) a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) comprising VH and VL, wherein scFv has an activity against a tumor antigen, (2) a transmembrane domain, (3) at least one co-stimulatory domain, and (4) an activating domain; wherein the CAR further comprises a human transferrin fragment, at N-terminus or C-terminus to scFv, or between VH and VL. Preferred tumor antigens are CD19, CD22 and BCMA.
U.S. Patent 11,572,353
The invention relates to an alkynyl-substituted heterocyclic compound acting as an FGFR inhibitor, as shown in general formula (I) and a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. The invention also relates to a method for treating and/or preventing FGFR-associated diseases, particularly tumors, by using the compound, and a preparation method for the compound.
U.S. Patent 11,517,554
The invention is directed to a method for preventing and/or treating Alzheimer's disease. The method comprises administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of dapansutrile. The method reduces neuroinflammation and improves the cognitive functions such as learning and memory processes of the subject.
U.S. Patent 11,345,695
Compounds of Formula I and pharmaceutically acceptable salts, syntheses, intermediates, formulations, and methods of treating diseases—including cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune disease—mediated at least in part by Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (BTK).
U.S. Patent 11,173,064
The present invention relates to a nanocomposite ocular device that can release drugs within a close distance to the ocular surface and provide controlled and sustained release of the drug at a constant rate. The device comprises a drug, one or more reservoir domains, and a barrier layer configured to block the drug diffusion paths from the reservoir domain to the ocular surface in the eye of the subject.
U.S. Patent 11,149,075
Provided herein are specific GITR receptor agonist proteins, nucleic acids encoding the same, and methods of treating a subject having a GITRL-associated disease or disorder. The GITR receptor agonist proteins provided herein comprise three soluble GITRL domains and an Fc fragment. The GITR receptor agonist proteins are substantially nonaggregating and suitable for therapeutic, diagnostic, and/or research applications.
U.S. Patent 11,046,748
The present invention relates to chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) specific to ICAM-1, comprising I domain of the αL subunit of human lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1). CAR T cells comprising human I domain having a low affinity to ICAM-1 can avoid targeting healthy tissues with basal ICAM-1 expression while exhibiting increased potency and long-term efficacy against tumor tissues with high ICAM-1 expression.
U.S. Patent 10,840,032
The present invention is directed to a supercapacitor cell having at least one electrode comprising a current collector and an active layer, wherein the active layer comprises activated carbon and high purity carbon nanotubes and is free of binder. The content of carbon nanotubes in the active layer is between 10 and 30 wt%, and the purity of the carbon nanotubes is at least 95 wt%.
U.S. Patent 10,718,764
The present invention is directed to a luminescent immunoassay method for detecting an analyte in a liquid sample with high sensitivity. The invention provides a unique combination of (1) using a probe having a small sensing surface area for binding analyte molecules, (2) using a high molecular weight polymer conjugated with multiple binding molecules and luminescent labels, and (3) cycling the probe having immunocomplex formed and repeating the reaction to improve the sensitivity of detection level.
U.S. Patent 10,654,911
The invention relates to a co-expression vector that comprises both truncated von Williebrand Factor (vWF)-Fc DNA construct and B-domain deleted FVIII DNA construct in the same vector. By co-expressing FVIII and truncated vWF-Fc with one expression vector in cells, the present invention controls the ratio of gene templates for FVIII and vWF proteins, and creates a higher yield and more stable expression of FVIII protein molecules.
U.S. Patent 10,221,448
The invention relates to a scalable multiplex PCR method that can simultaneously amplify overlapping amplicons without the drawbacks of conventional multiplex PCR. The method selectively amplifies target nucleic acid fragments having an overlapping region.
U.S. Patent 9,745,382
The present invention relates to humanized bispecific anti-HER2 antibodies that comprise one antigen binding site containing variable regions of heavy and light chain of trastuzumab, and another antigen binding site containing variable regions of heavy and light chains of pertuzumab. The bispecific anti-HER2 antibodies are effective for treating cancer.