Crab Trap Judges and Sponsors, Sally Allain, MSc., MBA Head, JLABS @ Washington, DC Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS, Srujana Cherukuri, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Noble Life Sciences, Inc. & Lora Green, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, join Rich Bendis on BioTalk to preview the event taking place live on September 21st, 2022 at USP in Rockville. For the first time in its history, this year’s Crab Trap winner will be eligible for a package of prizes worth more than $50,000.
Prizes for the qualifying Crab Trap winner include:
- A $10,000 cash prize from Wilson Sonsini
- A $5,000 cash from Montgomery County (for a firm headquartered in Montgomery County)
- A one-year residency at JLABS @ Washington, D.C.
- Preclinical CRO services from Noble Life Sciences.
Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3Kr1FKU, Google https://bit.ly/3e46gGS, Spotify https://spoti.fi/3ctQ4Os, or Amazon Podcasts https://amzn.to/3qbvtSB
As Head of JLABS @ Washington, DC, Sally Allain sets the strategic direction and oversees all operational activities for JLABS in the greater Washington metro region, including Maryland and Virginia. In this role, Sally is responsible for the process of evaluation across the region, and selecting a strong portfolio of innovators for JLABS @ Washington, DC, and building strategic partnerships with corporate, academic, government and industry organizations that aim to strengthen the region’s life sciences innovation network.
Sally has over 20 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, starting in research before moving onto roles in Program & Portfolio Management, External Alliances, Operations, and Strategy. She received her MBA from the University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business, where she was recognized by ‘Poets and Quants’ as one of the ‘Top 50’ EMBA students across US & International Programs; a Master of Science Degree in Microbiology / Immunology from Virginia Tech; and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Virginia Tech.
Before becoming CEO, Dr. Srujana Cherukuri served in multiple roles at Noble Life Sciences including Chief Operations Officer, Chief Scientific Officer, Vice President of Product Development and Operations, and Director of Scientific Affairs. In her previous roles at Noble, Dr. Cherukuri was instrumental in optimizing new preclinical animal models and streamlining operations to achieve operational efficiency. In addition, Dr. Cherukuri led the successful consolidation of Noble operations at the Spring Valley Laboratories site. Prior to joining Noble, Dr. Cherukuri held positions at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, National Cancer Institute and University of Maryland where she led projects focused on understanding the basic biology and mechanistic actions in cancer cells. Dr. Cherukuri has expertise in diverse areas of Biology and has 15+ years of research experience in the areas of oncology and stem cell biology. Dr. Cherukuri completed her PhD in biology at Cleveland State University.
Lora Green is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she is a member of the post-grant review practice.
From 2001 to 2018, Lora was an administrative patent judge at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which included serving as a lead administrative patent judge from 2011 to 2017. While at the USPTO, she managed post-grant review proceedings, such as inter partes and covered business method reviews. She also mentored judges who were new to post grant-review proceedings and reviewed opinions of other authoring judges. In addition, she decided ex parte appeals from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical examining groups. Specifically, she reviewed the appellant’s brief, the examiner’s answer, the application, the relevant prior art, and any additional evidence to determine the proper disposition of the appeal, and she wrote the opinions as the authoring judge.
As a lead administrative patent judge, she supervised administrative patent judges who decided ex parte appeals and managed post grant-review proceedings and interlocutory calls and oral hearings. Among other duties, she was also responsible for writing and performing employee performance reviews, including 120-day reviews of new judges and mid-year and end-of-year reviews.
Earlier in her career, Lora was an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where she prosecuted applications in the biotechnology field before the USPTO and international applications submitted under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable William C. Bryson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and was a patent examiner at the USPTO. Before entering the legal industry, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Maryland, working in a laboratory and using NMR-based methods to determine the three-dimensional structures of mature GAG protein isolated from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.