Michelle Cunningham, Ph.D., concentrates her intellectual property law practice on patent drafting and prosecution and opinion drafting in biotechnology. Her doctoral research in pharmacology focused on P2Y nucleotide receptors and regulation of the G protein-mediated signaling pathways associated with these receptors. Dr. Cunningham’s research on G proteins and RGS proteins was published in Molecular Pharmacology, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and the Biochemical Journal. Her graduate studies also included sickle cell anemia research on the abnormal adhesion of sickle red blood cells to the vascular endothelium. Dr. Cunningham’s research on sickle cell anemia was published in Blood, the Journal of the American Hematology Society.

In 1995, Dr. Cunningham received her B.S. in biochemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of Dayton, where she was a National Merit Scholar. In 2000, she earned her Ph.D. in pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellow. Dr. Cunningham received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina in 2003, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.