David J. Austin is an associate in the firm's Intellectual Property Group. Dr. Austin focuses his practice on litigation in the areas of synthetic chemistry and catalysis, medicinal chemistry, pharmaceuticals, polymer science and biotechnology. Dr. Austin has been involved in the litigation of many complex chemical and technological concepts, including cholesterol-lowering drugs, antiviral drugs, industrial enzymes, industrial polymer manufacturing and processes, and litigation involving polymers products derived from complex polymer processing such as melt spinning.
Prior to becoming an attorney, Dr. Austin was a scientific advisor and patent agent with a national intellectual property law firm in New York. Prior to that, he was the Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, an antibiotic drug discovery and development company.
Dr. Austin was a member of the faculty in the Chemistry Department at Yale University from 1996 to 2005. During his time there, he focused on research at the interface of chemistry and biology, and was the scientific founder of Ambit Biosciences. In addition to drug development, Dr. Austin's research background includes organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, the use of chemical probes to study biological function.
Dr. Austin is the co-author of two patents, U.S. Patent No. 7,754,718, Novel Antiviral Helioxanthin Analogs, and U.S. Patent No. 7,304,092, Compounds and Methods for Treating Tumors, Cancer and Hypoproliferative Diseases.
Dr. Austin received his J.D. from Fordham Law School, his Ph.D. in chemistry from Emory University and his B.A./M.A. combined degree in chemistry from the University of South Florida. Dr. Austin also was a postdoctoral fellow in chemical biology at Harvard University. During his academic career, Dr. Austin was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship and the AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Excellence in Chemistry Award. He has also served on the Scientific Advisory Board of The Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases.