Damir Musaev, PhD

Dr. Damir Musaev is a science advisor in the firm’s Business Law department and a member of its Life Science Intellectual Property group. He joined the firm in 2024 and supports clients with patent drafting and prosecution, IP due diligence, and freedom-to-operate analyses, drawing on his deep technical expertise in the life sciences.

Dr. Musaev has a strong scientific background, with experience in bioinformatics, RNA biology (including protein translation), neurodevelopment, immunology, protein engineering (including antibody technologies), vaccine development, and gene editing (including CRISPR-based technologies). His ability to integrate complex scientific insights into legal strategy helps clients navigate the intersection of innovation and intellectual property.

Prior to joining Goodwin, Dr. Musaev earned his PhD in Genetics from Yale University, where he carried out his doctoral research in the laboratory of Antonio Giraldez. His work focused on investigating eukaryotic mRNA stability and translation regulation. He was a Gruber Science Fellow at Yale and a Venture Fellow with Canaan Partners.

Dr. Musaev conducted research on the genetics of rare pediatric brain disorders at The Rockefeller University and UC San Diego. He has linked several genes to neurodevelopmental conditions and uncovered their novel functions using patient-derived fibroblasts reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).