Laura Dixon

After gaining experience in intellectual property after university, Laura joined Potter Clarkson’s biotechnology and pharmaceuticals team in November 2019.

She spent over two years at the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) in South Wales working as a patent examiner. During this time, she searched and examined applications, particularly in the fields of medical devices, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.  

Before her work at the UKIPO, she completed a PhD in molecular biology characterising multiple regulatory control mechanisms of the rpfA gene in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The rpfA gene encodes resuscitation promoting factor A (RpfA), a protein involved in the switch of the bacteria from a dormant to an active, disease-causing state. Her research included the characterisation of a c-di-AMP-responsive riboswitch, the copper-sensitive transcription factor CsoR and cyclic-AMP receptor proteins, including Rv3676.