Sonia M. Ziesche, PhD

Dr. Sonia M. Ziesche is a principal, patent agent, and the chair of the Life Science Group of Gowling WLG's Vancouver office.

Sonia works closely with clients in the areas of biotechnology, chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, agriculture, clean and greentech, to develop targeted patent programs designed to capture innovations and provide a competitive advantage.

Sonia provides strategic patent advice to individual entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as multinational corporations and academic institutions. She helps her clients to implement holistic patent strategies to maximize value of patent portfolios in key markets such as the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada, and specializes in finding practical solutions to the most challenging patent issues that frequently accompany complex biotechnology and pharmaceutical inventions.

Sonia guides clients through all phases of patent protection, including strategic patent counselling, portfolio building, patent strategies, patentability, validity, infringement and freedom to operate opinions, portfolio assessments and patent landscape reports.

In addition to Sonia's main practice areas, she is experienced in a wide variety of different disciplines, including the drafting and prosecution of inventions related to pulp and paper, mechanical engineering and forestry.

Sonia obtained her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and her BSc (major: microbiology and biochemistry; minor: immunology and organic chemistry) from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. She further holds a certificate in bioinformatics (bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics) from UBC.

Prior to joining Gowling WLG, Sonia worked several years in academic research as a postdoctoral fellow in UBC's Department of Medical Genetics.