Dr. Erin Swinstead integrates her scientific background in molecular biology and her experience in patent counseling to assist clients, ranging from biotechnology startups to large pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, in protecting their intellectual properties. Her experience in patent counseling includes meeting with inventors to discuss patent strategies, patent drafting and prosecution, freedom-to-operate analysis, patent validity and infringement analysis, due diligence, and litigation support.

Erin possesses patent counseling experience across a wide range of technologies, including CAR-T cell therapy technology, antibodies, vaccines, diagnostics, gene therapy, embryo development, hormone therapy, food products, and genetics in plant biology. She also has experience in design patent drafting and prosecution.

Before joining Foley, Erin gained experience in patent counseling at a global firm located in Washington, D.C., and was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI). Her scientific background is largely in the hormone-driven cancer space, such as breast and prostate cancer. During her time at the NIH, Erin investigated the collaborative interactions of activated transcription factors and steroid receptors, with a focus on the genomic consequences of these interactions. She utilized a number of techniques coupled with next-generation sequencing to assess chromatin reprogramming and transcriptional regulation, including ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, DNaseI-seq, and RNA-seq. She published her findings in several research journals, including Cell (as first author), and was awarded a U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Breakthrough Fellowship as Principal Investigator.