Pratibha Khanduri, Ph.D.

Pratibha Khanduri, Ph.D., is counsel in Sterne Kessler’s Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group, where her practice focuses on biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent cases. Pratibha has extensive experience in patent strategy, validity and infringement opinions, and contested proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), including inter partes reviews, post-grant reviews, and interferences. She regularly advises clients on all phases of PTAB proceedings, from developing case strategy and managing discovery to driving briefing and oral hearings. In addition, Pratibha has experience in biopharmaceutical district court litigation and ITC investigations, where she advances and challenges patent validity and infringement positions to support clients’ business goals.

Pratibha has represented clients across a variety of technology areas, including DNA sequencing, therapeutic antibodies, genetics, genomics, pharmaceutical compositions and dosing, antisense molecules, protein engineering, vaccines, CRISPR, gene editing, gene therapy, and clean technology.

Prior to joining Sterne Kessler, Pratibha was a law clerk and technical advisor at an intellectual property law firm. Pratibha received her J.D. from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. During law school, Pratibha was a judicial extern for the Honorable James P. Flannery at the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago and served as an associate editor for the Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property. In addition, Pratibha received the CALI award for the highest grade in Mediation and in International Intellectual Property Law.

Pratibha earned her Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Pratibha’s doctoral research focused on the role of tumor suppressor p53 in the development and treatment of malignant melanomas.