William Wei Zhang, PhD

Overview

William Wei Zhang focuses his practice on patent prosecution in the areas of pharmaceuticals and polymer chemistry.

Prior to joining Wolf Greenfield, William worked as a medicinal chemist at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. He contributed to developing structure-activity relationships and improving physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties of lead compounds in multiple therapeutic areas. He is a co-inventor on two US patents directed to the treatment of diabetes and hepatitis C.

William obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Columbia University under the direction of Professor Colin Nuckolls. His graduate work focused on the preparation and characterization of foldamers and organic semiconductors. A foldamer is an artificial, chain molecule that adopts, or “folds into,” a secondary structure stabilized by noncovalent interactions. Foldamers have potential applications in the development of new drugs and functional materials. William synthesized novel oligomeric benzenetricarboxamides, which fold into defined secondary structures in solution under the synergy of hydrogen bonds and π-π interaction. He also prepared a stable and highly soluble tetraalkoxypentacene and solution-cast it to form single-wire, organic field-effect transistors.

Experience

• Performed patent due diligences, including chemical structure searches, and patentability, freedom-to-operate, validity, and infringement analyses, some of which resulted in investments of half a billion US dollars.
• Drafted and prosecuted patent applications.
• Managed patent portfolios.
• Assisted in inter partes reviews and litigations.

Activities

• Boston Intellectual Property Law Association

Recognition

• Repeatedly recognized on the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch list by The Best Lawyers in America®
• Repeatedly named to the list of Massachusetts Rising Stars by Super Lawyers
• Faculty Fellowship, Columbia University
• Graduate Student Excellence Award, Jiangsu Province Ministry of Education, China

Interests

William enjoys photography, videography, hiking, and gardening. Some pictures he took have been selected for inclusion in a city guide and a charitable website.