Patent Agent/Technology Transfer Resume

Desired Industry: Biotech	SpiderID: 15854
Desired Job Location: Washington, District of Columbia	Date Posted: 9/26/2007
Type of Position: Full-Time Permanent	Availability Date:
Desired Wage:
	U.S. Work Authorization: Yes
Job Level: New Grad/Entry Level	Willing to Travel: Yes, 25-50%
Highest Degree Attained: Doctoral	Willing to Relocate: Yes

Experience:

Employment/Activities
Post-doctorial Fellow, National Institutes of Health, NIAID 1997-1999
Basic research molecular biology cloning and expression of HTLV-I/II integrase gene.

Post-doctorial Fellow, National Institutes of Health, NIMH 1999-2000
Technology Transfer Fellow, processes CRADA and MTA agreements and developed Departmental Website.

Patent Examiner, USPTO 2000-2001
Patent Examining Technology Center 1600, examines inventions related to biotechnology, molecular biology and biochemistry.

Instructor, Consultant, USPTO 2001
Instructor for prior arts database searching using USPTO's web based search engine East and West

Special Project employee, Awapatent, Gothenborg 2001-2002
Acted as a consultant on scientific matters, and US intellectual property law

Invandra Academy, Boras Hogskola, Boras 2002-2003
Studied Swedish language and culture, prepared to take 'Riksexamine' for University entry

Skovde University, Skovde 2003-2004
Participated in the Masters Program in Bioinformatics

Gothenburg University, Marine Microbiology, Lundberg Laboratory 2004-2006
Studied the Linux (Unix) operating system developing systems administrative skills while maintaining various Linux (Open source Unix) based servers. Developed and maintained various Bioinformatics workstations containing online searchable Bioinformatics (LAMP) databases all using freely available Open-Source software. Performed basic research as a Bioinformatician involving the functional annotation of sequences derived from ESTs from the common marine Barnicle species Balanus. The analysis of said ESTs involved the development of my bioinformatics related programming skills in the Linux Shell scripting and Perl programming language, and the use numerous Bioinformatics programs not limited to but including the EMBOSS software suite, BLAST, Pfamm, HMMer, CAP3, and finally the utilization of various so-called 'program pipelines' combinations of Perl and Linux shell scripts in conjunction with installed bioinformatics software to access remote online databases and carryout automated functional annotation of the EST sequence reads derived from Balanus for further study and analysis hopefully leading to publication in a peer reviewed journal. As of Sept. 2007 I am current still involved doing bioinformatics involving functional annotation of the Balanus ESTs but only when time allows and on a voluntary basis to finish the work that I started last year.

Gothenburg University, GUFI (GU Research Innovation), GU Holding Company 2006-2007
While employed at GUFI/GU-Holding I performed prior art searches, freedom-to-operate searches (FFO), conducted inventor interviews of University researchers, advised as to patentability, and advised and assisted some of the small firms at the Holding Company on issues involving patentability and assisted in the drafting of provisional patent applications if necessary.

Synergon, 2007-present Currently I am employed on an hourly bases as a patent consultant at Synergon which is a small patent firm. Generally my assignments involve so-called Red Flag inquiries into the patentability of innovations by University researchers. In this capacity I performed prior art searches, freedom-to-operate searches (FFO), conducted inventor interviews if necessary, advised as to the patentability of those inventions or how might the claimed invention be modified as to avoid prior art issues and write detailed reports as to the prior art and my opinion as to patentability or future licensing concerns involving current patent holders.

Education:
Education:
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), State University of New York, Stony Brook 1990
Masters of Science (M.S.), Gothenburg University 1994
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Gothenburg University 1997

Skills:
Summary Doctorial Thesis:
Titel: Nonradioactive quantitative detection of gene expression : methodological studies in normal and malignant tissues utilizing digital image analysis
Graduation year: 1997
ISBN: 91-628-2422-8
Subject matter: digital image analysis, formalin-fixed biopsy, gene expression analysis, paraffin embedded tissue, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, thymidylate synthase.
Institution: Department of Surgery
Faculty: Medical Faculty
Disputations date: 1997-05-15

Abstract: This thesis describes the development and adaptation of gene expression analysis to archival biopsies allowing retrospective investigation of thymidylate synthase (TS) gene expression without the need for preemptive sample recovery. The ability to effectively isolate messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded material for RNA analysis, and the nearly universal accessibility of this material opens the archives of hospital pathology departments to all sorts of gene expression studies. The methods developed in this thesis are based on the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of complimentary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) obtained from different tissues. The quantification of the PCR amplicons is by computer assisted digital image analysis (DIA). As model systems five different processes are investigated including the development of a practical DIA workstation for nonradioactive detection of gene expression. The workstation is first applied to the analysis of the transcriptional regulation of interferon-gamma (IFN-g) gene expression in interleuken-2 (IL-2) stimulated natural killer cells (NK) by histamine and catalase in the presence and absence of autologous monocytes. The same system is then applied to the analysis of TS gene expression in flash-frozen biopsies. Next, a solid-phase system of isolating and concentrating mRNA from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded biopsies with reusable oligo(dT)25 paramagnetic beads was developed. The method uses the repeated re-elution and concentration of mRNA isolated from the same portion of an archival biopsy.
Intracellular concentrations of TS protein are studied in surgical biopsies from normal and cancerous human tissue originating from the GI-tract prior to the administration of 5FU and compared to TS gene expression. The concentration of TS is measured with tritium release assays, and the TS gene expression levels for both flash-frozen and formalin-fixed archival tissues are determined with the PCR based methodology previously described. The concentrations of TS mRNA varied considerably between the different tumor types examined, however the TS concentrations were consistently higher in tumor than in normal tissue. The use of oligo(dT)25 paramagnetic beads allowed for the isolation of intact mRNA even from archival tissues high in ribonucleic acidase (RNase) activity such as liver. The TS gene expression levels strongly correlated to enzyme activity for both flash-frozen and formalin-fixed material.
In conclusion, these new methodologies should allow for the possibility to accurately determine TS gene expression using archival material in large retrospective studies. The use of competitive semi-quantitative RT-PCR, the 96-well microtiter format and multi-channel pipette with a structured pipetting protocol throughout each experiment were permissible in a clinical setting and proved not only amenable to the potential large-scale screening of biopsy material but permitted greater precision, accuracy and reproducibility by reducing the number of steps required to perform an experiment.

Publications:
1: Houze TA, Larsson L, Larsson PA, Hansson G, Gustavsson B.
Detection of thymidylate synthase gene expression levels in formalin-fixed
paraffin embedded tissue by semiquantitative, nonradioactive reverse
transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
Tumour Biol. 1997;18(1):53-68.

2: Houze TA, Gustavsson B.
Sonification as a means of enhancing the detection of gene expression levels
from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsies.
Biotechniques. 1996 Dec;21(6):1074-8, 1080, 1082.

3: Houze TA, Gustavsson B.
Oven cooking bags allow an inexpensive alternative in oil-free competitive
RT-PCR.
Biotechniques. 1996 Nov;21(5):774, 776, 778. No abstract available.

4: Houze TA, Larsson PA, Hellstrand K, Gustavsson B.
The role of reactive oxygen metabolites in the transcriptional regulation of
IFN-gamma gene expression by histamine in NK cells following IL-2 stimulation.
Cell Biol Int. 1996 Sep;20(9):589-98.

5: Asea A, Hansson M, Czerkinsky C, Houze T, Hermodsson S, Strannegard O,
Hellstrand K. Histaminergic regulation of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production by human natural killer (NK) cells.
Clin Exp Immunol. 1996 Aug;105(2):376-82.

6: Lebens M, Shahabi V, Backstrom M, Houze T, Lindblad N, Holmgren J.
Synthesis of hybrid molecules between heat-labile enterotoxin and cholera toxin
B subunits: potential for use in a broad-spectrum vaccine.
Infect Immun. 1996 Jun;64(6):2144-50.

7: Houze TA, Larsson L, Larsson PA, Hansson G, Asea A, Gustavsson B.
Rapid detection of thymidylate synthase gene expression levels by
semi-quantitative competitive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction
followed by quantitative digital image analysis.
Tumour Biol. 1996;17(5):306-19.

Candidate Contact Information:

Name: Thomas Houze
Street: -	Phone: -
City: 504 38 Boras SWEDEN	Fax: -
State: -
Zip: -
Web Site: