Life Sciences Project

In Fall 2021, BCLT inaugurated the Life Sciences Project, which has already built a key space for students, academics, practitioners, and companies to explore IP, innovation, and regulatory issues in the life sciences. In its first year, the Life Sciences Project hosted several well-attended webinars and a highly successful first Advanced Life Sciences Institute in April 2022, with over 100 in-person participants. We are also thrilled to welcome Ramya Chandrasekhar, BCLT’s newest Visiting PhD Researcher. Ramya’s research will greatly support the Life Sciences Project.

Current research includes the study of patent and regulatory protection for drug and medical device innovations, development of new legal regimes for AI and healthcare data, and health data privacy regulations (including biometric regulation in key Allison Schmitt, Fellow and Director of the Life Sciences Project. Schmitt brings significant technical expertise to the Life Sciences Project, through her PhD training in bioorganic and physical biochemistry problems. Schmitt is a graduate of Berkeley Law, and after graduation she clerked for the Honorable Stanley R. Chesler at the District of New Jersey and the Honorable Kathleen M. O’Malley at the Federal Circuit. She then spent several years in private practice, focused on life sciences patent litigation, patent counseling and strategy, and policy matters.