Olga A. Partington, Ph.D.

Olga A. Partington, Ph.D., is a director in Sterne Kessler’s Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group and a seasoned practitioner before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). She has extensive, hands‑on experience litigating the America Invents Act (AIA) proceedings and has been deeply involved in PTAB practice since the early years of the AIA. Her PTAB experience also encompasses other contested USPTO proceedings, including inter partes reexaminations and interferences.

Dr. Partington regularly advises clients on PTAB strategy, including institution risk, discretionary denial, claim construction, and coordination with parallel district court and ITC proceedings. She has substantial experience developing and defending validity positions, working closely with technical experts, and crafting arguments that resonate with the Board in high‑stakes, technically complex cases—particularly in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical space.

In addition to her PTAB practice, Dr. Partington has played a significant role in pharmaceutical patent litigations brought under the Hatch‑Waxman Act and has been involved in a rare, complex life‑sciences investigation before the International Trade Commission, where patent, regulatory, and scientific issues converged in an expedited enforcement setting.

Her practice also includes domestic and foreign patent prosecution, with a particular focus on chemical and biotechnology patents, as well as counseling clients on patentability and design‑around strategies informed by her deep PTAB experience.

Dr. Partington’s technical background includes extensive training in nucleic acid chemistry, organic, bioinorganic, and biological chemistry, enzymology, and spectroscopy, gained through research conducted in the laboratories of Dr. Sheila David and Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Paul Modrich

Technical Publications

• Engstrom LM, Partington OA, David SS. Biochemistry.2012 Jun 26;51(25):5187-97. Epub 2012 Jun 12. “An Iron-Sulfur Cluster Loop Motif in the Archaeoglobus fulgidus Uracil-DNA Glycosylase Mediates Efficient Uracil Recognition and Removal.”
• Pluciennik A, Burdett V, Lukianova O, O’Donnell M, Modrich P. J Biol Chem. 2009 Nov 20;284(47):32782-91. Epub 2009 Sep 25. “Involvement of the beta clamp in methyl-directed mismatch repair in vitro.”
• Kadyrov FA, Holmes SF, Arana ME, Lukianova OA, O’Donnell M, Kunkel TA, Modrich P. J Biol Chem. 2007 Dec 21;282(51):37181-90. Epub 2007 Oct 19.”Saccharomyces cerevisiae MutLalpha is a mismatch repair endonuclease.”
• Boal, A.K., Yavin, E., Lukianova, O.A., O’Shea, V.L., David, S.S., Barton, J.K., “DNA- Bound Redox Activity of DNA Repair Glycosylases Containing [4Fe-4S] Clusters” (2005) Biochemistry, 44(23); 8397- 8407
• Lukianova, O.A., David, S.S., “A Role for [4Fe- 4S] Clusters in DNA Repair”, (2005) Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol.,9(2); 145-151.
• Chepanoske, C. L., Lukianova, O. A., Lombard, M., Golinelli-Cohen, M.-P., and David, S. S., “A Residue in MutY Important for Catalysis Identified by Photocross- Linking and Mass Spectrometry” (2004) Biochemistry, 43(3); 651-662