Lygos Appoints Photon Rao as Chief Patent Counsel

Experienced attorney to lead high-value intellectual property
procurement and protection

BERKELEY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/biochemicals?src=hash" target="_blank"gt;#biochemicalslt;/agt;–Lygos,
Inc., a full-stack producer of specialty chemicals that deliver
high-value performance without the environmental toxicity, today
announced that experienced IP attorney Photon Rao, JD, PhD, has been
named Chief Patent Counsel. He will be responsible for procuring and
protecting the company’s growing intellectual property (IP) portfolio
and related licenses.

“Photon is an exceptional patent attorney with extensive experience in
establishing and enforcing high-value IP in the biotechnology, chemical,
and polymer product and process spaces,” said Eric Steen, PhD, CEO of
Lygos. “Our proprietary technology platform is built upon a strong
foundation of IP and Photon’s strategic advice will be instrumental as
we continue to grow our business and enable more customers to replace
toxic legacy petrochemicals, reclaim local manufacturing and revive
industrial innovation.”

Dr. Rao brings 15 years of business-focused IP strategy, procurement and
protection experience. He has a proven track record in establishing
strong IP platforms for emerging companies and has participated in
IP-related deals totaling more than $2 billion. Prior to joining Lygos,
he worked at an American Lawyer 100 firm and as the Director of
IP at Threshold Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Rao received his PhD from the
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and pursued post-doctoral
research at Louis Pasteur University (Strasbourg I) and University of
Florida, Gainesville. He has co-authored several important papers in
peer-reviewed journals, including Angewandte Chemie, and is a
named inventor in a number of patents and patent applications.

“Lygos is uniquely positioned to transform industrial chemical
production processes for many large-scale industries in the near
future,” said Dr. Rao. “The company already features a comprehensive IP
portfolio, which extends across biotechnology, chemistry, and
high-performance polymer products and processes. I’m looking forward to
joining this accomplished team and helping them realize the full
potential of these high-value assets.”

Lygos’ proprietary technology platform is based on a high-throughput
combination of computational modeling, unique microbe engineering and
screening, and machine learning. It is used to identify and develop new
bio-routes to chemical functionalities that can expand the performance
window in diverse materials systems. The company applies modern
biotechnology to deliver the benefits of petroleum-based and other
industrial chemical technologies without environmental toxicity at
competitive prices. Lygos’ customers seek sustainable cost-efficient
solutions for applications where industrial chemistry uses expensive,
environmentally degrading options or has none to offer.

About Lygos
Lygos has created a full-stack biological
engineering platform focused on organic acid specialty chemicals and
bio-monomers. Lygos’ sustainable, bio-based chemicals replace expensive,
environmentally degrading alternatives from traditional industrial
suppliers, enabling customers to create better, safer products with
value-added performance. For more information, visit www.lygos.com
and follow us @LygosBiotech.

Lygos, the Lygos logo and Bio-Malonic are trademarks of Lygos, Inc.
All other brands may be trademarks of their respective holders.

Contacts

Andrew Noble
(415) 722-2129
[email protected]