Resume

Eric M. Livak Hale, Ph.D., Esq.

(né Livak-Dahl)

Profile

• In-house counsel for biotech startups, patent attorney with 10+ years of experience in patent prosecution, and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering

• Leading patent prosecution, trademarks, license negotiations and technology transactions, and other contracts for portfolio companies in *omics (genomics, epigenomics, metagenomics), next-generation sequencing (NGS) library preparation, infectious disease diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, forensics, and consumer products

• Licensed to practice as an attorney in California and admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Education

State Bar of California

Law Office Study (2017-2021)

• Per California Business and Professions Code Section 6060(e)(ii and iii) and Rules of the State Bar of California 4.29 [↪]

University of Michigan

Ph.D. — Chemical Engineering (2008-2013)

• • • Dissertation Title: "Droplet- and Bead-Based Microfluidic Technologies for Rheological and Biochemical Analysis"

    • Advisor: Professor Mark Burns

Certificate of Graduate Studies — Science, Technology and Public Policy (2010-2012)

M.S. — Chemical Engineering (2008-2010)

University of California, Los Angeles

B.S. — Chemical Engineering (Biomolecular Option curriculum) (2004-2008)

Professional Experience

EdenRoc Sciences

• Associate General Counsel – Intellectual Property (Feb 2022 – present)

  • Lead intellectual property (IP) strategy and manage outside counsel for patent and trademark portfolios of group of commonly-owned biotech startup companies

  • Guide business unit leaders on IP and other legal considerations

  • Negotiate, review, and manage technology transactions and other contracts including licenses, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), material transfer agreements (MTAs), master service agreements (MSAs), and beta test agreements

• Director, Intellectual Property (Jan 2020 – Feb 2022)

  • Direct strategy and manage outside counsel for IP portfolios of 7 biotech startup companies

  • Negotiate, review, and manage contracts including licenses, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), material transfer agreements (MTAs), and beta test agreements

  • Provide guidance pertaining to intellectual property aspects of business decisions

• Innovation Manager (Apr 2016 – Jan 2020)

  • Manage patent drafting and prosecution for portfolio of biotech and pharmaceutical start-up companies

  • Participate with product and business development teams to align intellectual property strategy with business processes

  • Develop competitive landscape analysis and strategy, conduct due diligence investigations

 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati – San Francisco, CA and Palo Alto, CA 

• Scientific Advisor (Jan 2014 – Apr 2016)

  • Draft patent applications, communicating with inventors at academic and private sector clients in technical areas including biotechnology, diagnostics, genetics, energy, and consumer products

  • Perform patent landscape analysis and due diligence for start-up companies, acquisitions, and IPOs

  • Independently manage docket of projects and action items with several different project leads to successfully meet deadlines 

  • Develop and implement patent prosecution strategies, coordinating with clients, colleagues, and foreign associates for US, Europe, UK, China, Japan, and other jurisdictions

University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, MI

• Graduate Student Research Assistant, Prof. Mark Burns, Chemical Engineering (Jan 2009 – Dec 2013)

Technical Experience

• • • Designed and fabricated silicon/glass two-phase droplet-based microfluidic viscometer for analysis of Newtonian, non-Newtonian, and viscoelastic nanoliter-volume samples 

      • Partially funded collaboration with Genentech 

    • Constructed test setup with LabVIEW-controlled pressure regulators and solenoid valves, with high-speed camera data collection for microfluidic devices 

    • Developed and characterized simple SU-8 mold fabrication technique for 3D structures 

    • Preliminary work developing micro-scale plasma-based electronic pressure actuator

Organizational and Communication Experience

• • • Independently managed research projects from conception to execution 

    • Communicated research to collaborators, funders, and broader audiences via written journal articles, oral and graphical presentations

    • Wrote and edited highly-scored NIH and NSF grant proposals 

    • Trained junior lab members on a wide range of instruments and techniques

    • Mentored and directed full-time summer intern in multiple research projects

• Graduate Student Instructor, Separation Processes (CHE 343) (Aug 2012 – Dec 2012)

  • • Created and delivered lectures for 53 students and held office hours weekly

    • Completed 10 hours of training in active teaching methods from the College of Engineering and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching

Michigan League of Conservation Voters – Ann Arbor, MI

• Energy Policy Intern (Sep 2012 – Dec 2012)

  • Recruited business leaders to endorse renewable energy ballot proposal 

  • Developed quantitative methodology for gubernatorial environmental scorecard 

  • Helped facilitate and structure meeting of Grand Rapids business, governmental, and community leaders for river restoration and development project 

  • Coordinated and trained volunteers for election phone-bank efforts

National Science Foundation Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology – Davis, CA

• Research Intern, Prof. Laura Marcu, Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis (Jun 2007 – Sep 2007)

  • Developed and characterized UV polymerization microfabrication technique for embedding fluorescent dyes in test patterns for fluorescent lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) phantom

University of California, Los Angeles – Los Angeles, CA

• Undergraduate Research Assistant, Prof. Shimon Weiss, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA (Apr 2006 – Dec 2007)

  • Prepared and transformed pQE60 plasmids into M15 E. coli to express recombinant barnase protein 

  • Purified protein product on FPLC ion exchange column with prior buffer exchange on NAP-25 gel filtration column, with MALDI mass spectrometry verification

  • Fluorescently labeled protein for single molecule FRET analysis of protein folding events during mitochondrial membrane translocation studies (TIM22, TIM23, and TOM complexes)

Professional Certifications

Attorney, State Bar of California

• Bar Number 340269

Patent Attorney, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

• Registration Number 74,790

Technical Skills and Training

Software (data collection and analysis, simulation and modeling, CAD and graphic design)

• LabVIEW, MATLAB, Wolfram Mathematica, Microsoft Excel

• COMSOL Multiphysics, L-Edit, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop 

Microscopy and Spectroscopy

• Fluorescence microscopy, brightfield/darkfield microscopy, environmental SEM, UV-Vis, MALDI mass spectrometry 

Wet Laboratory Skills

• Cone-and-plate rheometers and capillary viscometers 

• Pressure and vacuum regulators for microfluidic flow control 

• E. coli culture, plasmid cloning and transformation, protein expression, recovery, FPLC purification, and fluorescent labeling 

• PCR, restriction enzyme digestion, and gel electrophoresis (agarose and SDS-PAGE) 

Cleanroom and Microfabrication 

Lurie Nanofabrication Facility, University of Michigan 

• Mask makers and aligners, manual and automated photoresist deposition systems 

• Electron-beam thin-film metal deposition, parylene coating 

• Deep reactive ion etching of silicon and glass, wet etching of glass 

• Plasma, thermal, and anodic bonding 

• SU-8 lithography, PDMS soft lithography, silane surface treatment

Publications

• “Nanoliter droplet viscometer with additive-free operation” [↪]

  • E. Livak-Dahl, J. Lee, M.A. Burns, Lab on a Chip, 2013, 13(2), 297-301. 

• “Microfluidic Chemical Analysis Systems” [↪]

  • E. Livak-Dahl, I. Sinn, M.A. Burns, Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 2011, 2, 325-353. 

• “Flexible casting of modular self-aligning microfluidic assembly blocks” [↪]

  • S.M. Langelier, E. Livak-Dahl, A.J. Manzo, B.N. Johnson, N.G. Walter, M.A. Burns, Lab on a Chip, 2011, 11(9), 1679-1687.

Presentations

• "Nanoliter Droplet Microfluidic Viscometer for Newtonian and Non-Newtonian Fluids"

  • E. Livak-Dahl, M.A. Burns, Second Annual Chemical Engineering Graduate Symposium, University of Michigan; 6 May 2013; Ann Arbor, MI [Oral Presentation]

• “Nanoliter Droplet Microfluidic Viscometer with Additive-Free Operation”

  • E. Livak-Dahl, J. Lee, M.A. Burns, 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting; 28 Oct – 2 Nov 2012; Pittsburgh, PA [Poster]

• “Nanoliter Droplet Based Microfluidic Viscometer”

  • N.E. Rice, E. Livak-Dahl, M.A. Burns, UROP Summer Research Symposium, University of Michigan; 27 July 2012; Ann Arbor, MI [Poster]

• “Nanoliter Droplet Viscometer with Additive-Free Operation”

  • E. Livak-Dahl, J. Lee, M.A. Burns, SBE 6th International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology; 24-27 June 2012; Berkeley, CA [Poster]

• “Microfabrication of Beads and Test Patterns for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Tissue Phantom”

  • E. Livak-Dahl, Y. Sun, J. Yan, A. Revzin, L. Marcu, Biomedical Engineering Society 2007 Annual Fall Meeting; 26-29 Sep 2007; Los Angeles, CA [Poster]