Mike F. Perham

Chemistry, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices

Registered U.S. Patent Agent

Ph.D., Chemistry

Mike Perham, Ph.D., joined the Patent Foundation in May 2009. He previously worked as a licensing associate at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he evaluated patentability and marketability, identified potential licensees and negotiated contracts for various biomedical technologies. Perham received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Rice University, where he also interned in the Office of Technology Transfer, working with biochemical and nanotechnology inventions. At Rice, he received support and training on National Institutes of Health grants for biophysics (HAMBP) and biotechnology (Biotechnology Training Program), publishing seven papers throughout his graduate career. His research focused on the protein folding dynamics of VlsE, a variable antigenic protein on the surface of Borrelia Burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme disease, and Human Cpn10, an oligomeric chaperonin protein that functions as the cap to the cpn10/cpn60 chaperonin complex.

Prior to graduate school, Perham worked at PPG Industries, where he developed high-performance coatings. He holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and math from the University of Texas at Austin.

Perham became a registered U.S. patent agent in 2009 and has served on technology evaluation committees and as a moderator or presenter for TechConnect, Rice Alliance and the Texas Life Science Conference.

Photo by Tom Cogill