Since joining the firm, Claire has drafted and prosecuted patents in the field of plant biology, with a particular technical emphasis on plant traits, plant varieties, genetically engineered plants, biotechnology, and agricultural products. She has also provided support for freedom-to-operate and due diligence projects in the agricultural biotechnology space. Claire has worked with a wide range of clients, including small and large plant breeding companies, startup agricultural biotech companies, and large biotech companies.
Prior to joining the firm, Claire initiated a project on the invasive citrus greening disease pathogen as a research molecular biologist at USDA-ARS. Claire received her Ph.D. in plant molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her doctoral research focused on understanding the effects of gene duplication on circadian clock regulation in cereal crop species. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Oxford, where she researched plant miRNAs.