Rolando F. Rengifo*, Ph.D.
Primary Areas of Practice
Overview
Rolando Rengifo focuses his practice on patent prosecution and procurement, client counseling, IP strategy, and IP portfolio management. His clients include corporations, leading universities, and research institutions in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical technology, chemistry, and biotechnology fields.
Rolando is active in all aspects of patent prosecution and counseling, including drafting and prosecuting domestic and international patent applications, preparing responses to office actions, conducting examiner interviews, and performing patent due diligence including patentability and invalidity opinions and freedom to operate analyses in a wide range of technologies. He also assists in pre-litigation and post-grant proceedings matters. Rolando works closely with in-house counsel, scientific officers, inventors, and corporate businesspeople to identify and protect the intellectual property of the client, and to develop effective strategies to advance client goals.
Prior to joining Rothwell Figg, Rolando practiced at an AmLaw 100 firm, where he prosecuted patents in a wide range of life science technologies, including small molecule, nucleotide, pharmaceutical and protein technologies. He also worked in bioinorganic chemical systems, materials and physical chemistry technologies, and optical systems. His clients ranged from clients with extensive patent portfolios worldwide and universities to startups and emerging biotech companies. Rolando was also engaged in analyses used to inform mergers, acquisitions, licensing and other transactional strategies.
As a graduate student in the chemistry department at Emory University’s Laney Graduate School, Rolando designed and developed metalloamyloid nanostructures, and focused his research on understanding the rational design of supramolecular assemblies. Rolando also developed techniques to capture and model the early stages of supramolecular assembly.
Rolando was a research assistant as an undergraduate at Duke University where he co-authored a paper on mapping the surface of melanosomes. While at Duke, Rolando also founded and chartered a peer reviewed academic journal, Neurogenesis: Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience, that showcases and promotes undergraduate student contributions to the field of neuroscience. In law school, Rolando was Editor-in-Chief and founder of the Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies.
*Not admitted to the D.C. Bar
Experience
Patent Prosecution and Portfolio Management
- For a global life sciences and healthcare company, managed all aspects of patent prosecution for target biotechnology assays, some queued for licensing, with active applications worldwide.
- For an American biotechnology company, led all aspects of patent prosecution for patent portfolios related to nucleotide biotechnology and chemistry.
- For an agriculture technology company, handled all aspects of patent prosecution for applications pending worldwide.
- For private and public research universities, provided full patent prosecution support for multiple chemical, biochemical, and pharmaceutical patent families with applications pending worldwide.
- For private and public research universities, served as outside counsel for various licensed technologies.
- For research institutions, drafted applications and handled all aspects of patent prosecution of various biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent families to be licensed with applications pending worldwide.
IP Strategy, Due Diligence, and Analysis
- For a global life sciences and healthcare company, conducted due diligence IP portfolio analyses to facilitate sale or acquisition conversations with companies; performed invalidity and patentability analyses to facilitate royalty, licensing, and/or litigation conversations with competitors; and conducted freedom to operate analyses related to biotechnology assays.
- For an agriculture technology company, conducted freedom to operate analyses related to chemical active molecules in development and use of their products.
- For a comprehensive cancer center, conducted freedom to operate analyses related to pharmaceuticals in cancer related technologies and conducted freedom to operate analyses related to biotechnology assays.
- For an American biotechnology company, performed invalidity and patentability analyses to facilitate royalty, licensing, and/or litigation conversations with competitors.
Honors & Recognitions
Most Promising Newcomer Finalist (2025)
ALM Southeastern Legal Awards
Atlanta Pro Bono Attorney of the Year (2023)
Tahirih Justice Center
Pro Bono Associate of the Year (2022)
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
Newsroom
Speaking Engagements
45th Southeastern Magnetic Resonance Conference (SEMRC): 2016
Rolando F. Rengifo, Ryan Han, Grant Murphy, Umar T. Twahir, Elliot N. Glass, Anil K. Mehta, Craig L. Hill, Kurt Warncke, David G. Lynn. Metal Incorporating Self-Assembling Peptide Arrays.
Gordon Research Seminar and Gordon Research Conference: 2016
Rolando F. Rengifo, Sha Li, Anil K. Mehta, David G. Lynn. Self-assembling peptide networks for energy interconversions.
Georgia Tech NMR Workshop: 2015
Rolando F. Rengifo, Kurt Warncke, Anil K. Mehta, David G. Lynn. Phases of Peptide Assembly.
Center for Chemical Evolution Annual Meeting: 2013
Rolando F. Rengifo, Anil K. Mehta, Rong Ni, W. Seth Childers and David G. Lynn. Conformation Chemical Evolution: Regulation of Epigenetic Expression.
Sixth International Peptide Engineering Meeting: 2012
Rolando. F. Rengifo, Anil K. Mehta, Rong Ni and David G. Lynn. Directed self-assembly of peptides using small-molecules.
Publications
Rengifo R.F., Lynn D.G. Electrochemistry of Nanoamyloids – Novel Amyloid-Cu(II) wires with self-healing properties. (In Preparation)
Sementilli, A., Rengifo R.F., Stewart, A., Stewart, K., Twahir U.T., Kim, Y., Yue, J., Mehta A.K., Shearer, J., Warncke K., Lynn D.G. Engineering Synthetic Electron Transfer Chains for Metallopeptide Membranes. (December 21, 2023, Inorganic Chemistry).
Isaacson, A.A., McKeon, T.W., Rengifo R.F. (2021), ‘Collaboration and Joint Inventorship: Who Invented this Biologic?’ MEMO | The Kilpatrick Townsend Biopharma Industry Blog, 13 May.
McKeon, T.W. and Rengifo R.F. (2021), ‘Patents on COVID-19 Vaccines – Feel free to infringe?’ MEMO | The Kilpatrick Townsend Biopharma Industry Blog, 6 May.
Rengifo R.F., Sementilli A., Kim Y., Chen L., Li N., Mehta A.K., Lynn D.G. Liquid-Like Phases Preorder Peptides for Supramolecular Assembly. ChemSystemsChem 2020, 2(6).
Rengifo R.F., Li N.X., Sementilli A., Lynn D.G. Amyloid scaffolds as alternative chlorosomes. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2017, 34 (15), pp. 7063 – 7071.
Glass K., Rengifo R.F., Porrka F., Simon J.D. Probing the Surface Calcium Binding Sites of Melanosomes Using Molecular Rulers. J. Phys. Chem. B. 2014, 118 (49), pp. 14110 – 14114.
Glass K., Rengifo R.F., Simon J.D. Probing the melanosome surface using molecular rules. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2011, 24 (4), pp. 780.
Community & Professional
Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA)
Soccer in the Streets Emerging Leaders Council, Vice President (2022-2023)
Soccer in the Streets Emerging Leader’s Counsel, President (2023-2025)
Practices
- Counseling, Transactions, and Guidance
- Due Diligence
- Emerging Companies
- International Filings
- Licensing and Transactions
- Opinions, Freedom to Operate, and Patentability Analysis
- Patent and Trademark Office Proceedings
- Patent Prosecution
- Patent Strategy and Counseling
- Portfolio Management
- Prosecution
- U.S. Market Entry
Education
J.D., University of Notre Dame Law School
Ph.D., Biomolecular Chemistry, Emory University
B.S., Chemistry and Neuroscience, Duke University
Languages
- Spanish
Bar & Court Admissions
Bar Admissions
- Georgia
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office