Why Choose Creative Claims IP?
Creative Claims IP PLLC offers focused life sciences IP counsel, with fewer conflicts and direct access to the attorney handling your matter.
Based in Massachusetts, Creative Claims IP PLLC supports the intellectual property needs of individual inventors, university tech transfer offices, startups, and mid-sized life sciences companies nationwide. The firm offers a flat fee for a preliminary due diligence assessment combined with the preparation and filing of a provisional patent application, an arrangement especially designed for early-stage startups with tight budgets.
Creative Claims IP provides focused patent, trademark, trade secret and IP due diligence services for biotech and life sciences companies, investors, and other innovation-driven clients. We help clients protect valuable discoveries, navigate complex IP risk, and move critical transactions forward with clarity and confidence.
An Experienced Intellectual Property Attorney and Molecular Biologist
Clients benefit from Attorney Christopher Southgate’s rare combination of advanced scientific training and practical patent experience. Dr. Southgate earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Zürich, Switzerland, completed postdoctoral research at Harvard, and spent seven years conducting postgraduate research at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University. He received the prestigious AmfAR Scholar Award, served as a Harvard Medical School Instructor, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University, and an inventor on multiple patents worldwide. His research has appeared in leading journals, including Nature, Nature Genetics, Genes & Development, and EMBO Journal. Dr. Southgate earned his J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, DC. He is admitted to the Massachusetts and DC bars and has been registered with the USPTO since 2003.
With more than 20 years of patent law experience at Boston and DC law firms and in-house as Senior Patent Counsel, Dr. Southgate helps clients turn complex life sciences innovations into clear, strategic patent protection. His scientific insight and legal experience support thoughtful claim drafting, practical IP guidance, and patent strategies designed to help early-stage biotech companies build long-term value.
Our services are designed for organizations working at the forefront of biotechnology and life sciences, covering all aspects of research in molecular and cellular biology.
Special areas of expertise include:
- Autologous CAR T
- Allogeneic CAR T
- iPSC-derived CAR T
- Scaffold-Based Engineering
- Decellularized-ECM Engineering
- Hydrogel / Cell-Encapsulation Engineering
- Scaffold-Free Engineering
- 3d Bioprinting
- In Situ Tissue Engineering
- Organoids
- AAV
- Lentivirus
- Adenovirus
- Lipid nanoparticles
- CRISPR-Cas systems
- Base Editing
- Prime Editing
- Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs)
- TALEs
- Meganucleases /
- Homing endonucleases
- Multispecific antibodies
- Diagnostic, prognostic, and pharmacogenomic biomarkers
- Translational and transcriptional modulation
- Small molecule regulation of alternative splicing
- Stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells
- Regenerative medicine
- Green technologies
- Recombinant protein manufacturing
- Chromatin remodeling
- Nucleic acid vectors, RNAis and miRNAs
- Cancer therapy, cancer therapies, immunotherapies
- Transgenic plants and animals
- Nanoparticle technology
- Transgenic animals and cell lines
- Methods of treating human and animal disease, including autoimmune diseases, mental illnesses, and cancer
- Methods of producing recombinant viruses
- Methods of treating human and animal disease
- Immunology and virology (including viral vectors, methods of treating viral infections and producing viruses);
- Assays
- Dietary supplements and nutraceuticals
- Medical devices
- Healthcare products
Professional Experience That Supports Better Patent Protection
Creative Claims IP combines scientific understanding with practical legal experience. Attorney Christopher Southgate has served both law firms and corporate legal departments, giving clients valuable insight into intellectual property from multiple perspectives.
Our professional affiliations include admission to the Massachusetts Bar and the District of Columbia Bar (DCBar), along with membership in the Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA), the American Bar Association (ABA) and ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the Boston Patent Law Association (BPLA), the New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association (NJIPLA), the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), and the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT).
