Sommer Zimmerman JD PhD

Sommer S. Zimmerman, Ph.D.

Associate
Atlanta

Sommer S. Zimmerman is a member of the Patent Group’s Life Sciences team. Her practice focuses on various aspects of patent prosecution, due diligence, and freedom to operate analysis, working primarily with clients in the life sciences, chemical, and food and beverage industries.

Sommer has over a decade of experience in domestic and international patent prosecution. She also has significant experience providing strategic patent counseling to life science companies, universities, and research institutions, leveraging complex structures searches to guide them through key stages of drug development. In addition, Sommer has worked closely on several due diligence projects, which have successfully culminated in multi-million dollar license agreements.

Professional Highlights

Professional Activities

State Bar of Georgia

Patents and Patent Publications

Co-inventor, "NMDA Receptor Modulators and Uses Related Thereto," US Patent No. 9,737,522 B2

Co-inventor, "Subunit Selective NMDA Receptor Antagonists for the Treatment of Neurological Conditions," US Patent Nos. 8,822,462 B2 and 10,273,214 B2

Recognition & Accomplishments

USPTO, Patent Pro Bono Achievement Certificate, 2022

Speaking Engagements

"Well It's Not Obvious to Me!: Dealing with Obviousness-Type Double Patenting Rejections in 2025," AIPLA Spring Meeting, Minneapolis, May 13, 2025

"Life After Cellect: Potential Pitfalls and Arguments," Strafford On Demand Webinar, December 12, 2024

"Potentiation of the GluN2C Containing NMDA Receptors by Pyrrolidinones, a Novel Class of Compounds," Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, October 13-17, 2012

"Design, Synthesis and Structure-Activity-Relationship of a Novel Series of GluN2C Selective Potentiators," Abstract of Papers, 244th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Philadelphia, August 19-23, 2012

"Potentiation of the GluN2C Containing NMDA Receptors by Pyrrolidinones, a Novel Class of Compounds," Postdoctoral Fellow Research Symposium, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, May 31, 2012

Board Memberships & Community Service

AUTM Eastern Region Planning Committee, 2021-present

Co-Editor-in-Chief of the AIPLA Chemical Practice Chronicles, 2024-present

Publications

Co-author, "A Novel Negative Allosteric Modulator Selective for GluN2C/2D-Containing NMDA Receptors Inhibits Synaptic Transmission in Hippocampal Interneurons," ACS Chem. Neurosci., 2017

Co-author, "Design, Synthesis, and Structure-Activity Relationship of a Novel Series of GluN2C-Selective Potentiators," J. Med. Chem., 2014

Credentials 

Education

Georgia State University College of Law (J.D., 2019)
CALI Awards for Excellence in Education Law
Recipient, Certificate in Intellectual Property, 2019
Recipient, Intellectual Property Scholarship, 2016
Recipient, 20th Anniversary Scholarship, 2016

Emory University (Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, 2013)
Dissertation: Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Subunit-Selective-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Modulators

Florida State University (B.S., psychology and criminology, 2006; B.S., chemistry, 2008)

Admissions

Georgia

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office