Maryam Elfeki, Ph.D.

Technical Advisor

  • Maryam Elfeki, Ph.D.
  • Phone: +1 212 471 1848

    Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    22 Vanderbilt
    335 Madison Avenue, 23rd Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4669
    USA

Maryam Elfeki, Ph.D. is a Technical Advisor in the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Duane Morris with over three years of experience assisting attorneys with prosecuting patent applications and managing patent portfolios. She has an extensive background in microbial drug discovery, specializing in extracting unique compounds from natural sources. As Co-Founder of Cryptyx Bioscience, she demonstrated the ability to drive innovation, secure substantial funding, and manage patent prosecution processes.

Dr. Elfeki has also contributed to the drafting and prosecution of patents spanning molecular biology, analytical chemistry, genomics, and bioinformatics tools, including cutting-edge technologies in molecular diagnostics (e.g., minimal residual disease detection using duplex and UMI-based error correction sequencing), genome editing platforms (e.g., integrase- and ligase-based direct replacement editing systems), immunotherapy (e.g., CAR-T manufacturing with lentiviral vectors and in vivo tags), and advanced cell separation workflows (e.g., immunomagnetic enrichment and apheresis). 

Her scientific expertise includes hands-on experience with a broad range of molecular biology, analytical chemistry, genomics, and bioinformatics tools, including droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR), Illumina amplicon sequencing and library preparation workflows, chromatographic separation techniques (e.g., HPLC), natural product extraction, compound purification, mass spectrometry-based structure elucidation, and computational analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters and microbial community data.

Dr. Elfeki received a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from The University of Illinois at Chicago. She also received a B.Sc. in Mathematics and a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the same institution. She conducted post-doctoral research in the Chemistry Department at Princeton University.

Education

  • University of Illinois at Chicago, Ph.D., 2020
  • University of Illinois at Chicago, B.Sc., Mathematics, 2012
  • University of Illinois at Chicago, B.Sc., Biochemistry, 2012

Experience

  • Duane Morris LLP
    - Technical Specialist, 2024-present
  • Lathrop GPM LLC
    - Technical Specialist, 2022-2024
  • Cryptyx Bioscience, Inc.
    - Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer, 2021-2022
  • Department of Chemistry, Princeton University
    - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2020-2022
  • Aspire Capital Fund LLC
    - Biotechnology Analyst Intern, 2019-April 2020
  • Office of Technology Management at University of Illinois at Chicago
    - Commercialization Screening Analyst, 2016-2020

Professional Activities

  • American Society of Microbiology
  • American Society of Pharmacognosy
  • American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists
  • Graduate Women in Science
  • Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy Graduate Student Organization

Selected Publications

  • lfeki, M., et al. "Assessing the Efficiency of Cultivation Techniques to Recover Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Populations from Sediment." ACS Chemical Biology 13, 8, 2074-2081 (2018).

  • Petrovich, M., et al., "Antibiotic resistance genes show enhanced mobilization through suspended growth and biofilm-based wastewater treatment processes," FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 94, 5, fiy04 (2018).

  • Wang, M.; et al., "GNPS - Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking.? Nature Biotechnology. 34, 828–837 (2016).

  • Shaikh, A., Elfeki, M., Landolpha, S., Tanouye, U., Green, S. J., Murphy, B. T., "Deuteromethylactin B from a freshwater-derived Streptomyces sp." Nat. Prod. Sci. 21(4): 1-7 (2015).

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • “Assessing the efficiency of cultivation techniques to recover natural product biosynthetic gene populations from sediment,” Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, August 2018
  • “Recovery of natural product biosynthetic capacity from Lake Huron sediment,” Medicinal Chemistry Meeting-in-Miniature, April 2017
  •  “Assessing the biosynthetic capacity of the cultivatable microbiome from Lake Huron sediment,” Center for Bimolecular Sciences Seminar Series, College of Pharmacy, UIC, December 2016
  • "The great lakes as a source for drug discovery,” German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Dept. Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Tübingen, April 2016