Bryan D. Beel, Ph.D., is an intellectual property attorney who practices primarily in patent and trademark prosecution and in IP litigation. Although his special aptitude lies in the area of biotechnology, Bryan’s broad scientific background allows him to practice in multiple scientific fields, including mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, and electronics.
Technical Expertise and Professional Background
During his graduate work at Washington State, Bryan was funded by a National Institutes of Health Biotechnology training fellowship and also spent time as an intern at Genentech in South San Francisco, California. His research used molecular biology techniques and biochemistry to study the structure/function relationship in a bacterial sensory receptor protein. At Washington State, Bryan received multiple awards for his work, and presented his work at national and international conferences. Studying in the Biotechnology Training Grant program allowed Bryan to explore many fields of science with relevance to biotechnology employment, including chemistry, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, biochemistry, and biophysics.
Bryan conducted his postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California in the laboratory of Dr. Mel Simon. Bryan’s NIH funding continued at Caltech, where his work was supported by a Ruth Kirschstein National Research Service Award. As a researcher at Caltech, he used molecular biology and advanced biophysical techniques to study how structural dynamics affect the activity of an enzyme from a hyperthermophilic bacterium. In collaboration with Dr. Alexandrine Bilwes and Dr. Brian Crane at Cornell University, he helped determine the crystal structures of novel bacterial enzymes and signaling proteins.
Bryan moved to Camas, Washington and joined Kolisch Hartwell in 2004, working as a Technical Consultant while attending Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College on a Dean’s Scholarship. Bryan graduated from law school in 2007 and continued with the firm as an intellectual property attorney. While in law school, he received honors awards for oral advocacy and appellate brief writing in the First Year Moot Court Competition. Bryan also served as an assistant editor for the Oregon Intellectual Property Newsletter.
Education
- J.D., Lewis & Clark Law School, 2007; Dean's Scholarship; First-year Moot Court; Assistant Editor, Oregon Intellectual Property Newsletter; Student Liaison, ABA Section of Litigation
- Ph.D., Genetics and Cell Biology, Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, 1999
- B.A., Natural Science, St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, 1992
Bar and Court Admissions
- State of Oregon
- U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon
Professional Associations
American Bar Association (ABA); Federal Bar Association; American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA); Multnomah Bar Association
Selected Publications
- Lai, W.C., Beel, B.D. and Hazelbauer, G.L. Adaptational modification and ligand occupancy have opposite effects on positioning of the transmembrane signalling helix of a chemoreceptor. Mol. Microbiol. 61(4):1081–90.
- Park, S.Y., Chao, X., Gonzalez-Bonet, G., Beel, B.D., Bilwes, A.M. and Crane, B.R. Structure and function of an unusual family of protein phosphatases: the bacterial chemotaxis proteins. CheC and CheX. Molecular Cell 16(4):563–74.
- Park, S.Y., Beel, B.D., Simon, M.I., Bilwes, A.M. and Crane, B.R. In different organisms, the mode of interaction between two signaling proteins is not necessarily conserved. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101(32):11646–51.
- Beel, B.D. and Hazelbauer, G.L. Signalling substitutions in the periplasmic domain of chemoreceptor Trg induce or reduce helical sliding in the transmembrane domain. Mol Microbiol. 40(4):824–34.
- Beel, B.D. and Hazelbauer, G.L. Substitutions in the periplasmic domain of low-abundance chemoreceptor trg that induce or reduce transmembrane signaling: kinase activation and context effects. J. Bacteriol. 183(2):671–9.