Melissa Erce ■

Senior Associate

Registered Patent Attorney

Melissa is a Registered Australian and New Zealand Patent Attorney specialising in Biotechnology.  Her practice includes preparing and prosecuting patent applications, coordinating prosecution of global patent portfolios and providing patentability opinions.

Melissa has a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from UNSW and was a post-doctoral Research Associate prior to becoming a Patent Attorney.  During her research career, Melissa studied the role of post-translational modifications in protein interactions and her work involved building a system to determine how post-translational modifications affected a protein’s capacity to interact with its partners.  Melissa’s research has been published in well-regarded journals including Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, the Journal of Molecular Biology, Proteomics and the Journal of Proteome Research.

Melissa’s technical background leaves her well-placed to assist clients in a range of sectors in the life science space and she has extensive experience in prosecuting patent applications in a range of technology areas including gene silencing, gene editing, cloning and expression, antibodies and immunology, therapeutics, proteomics and diagnostics.  Melissa has experience in acting for a wide variety of clients spanning from early start ups to research institutes, universities and multinationals.

Melissa holds a Master of Intellectual Property and is a member of the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) and the Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand (IPSANZ).