Richard Tun

Dr. Tun is an attorney and Associate at Berliner & Associates. Previously he was an Associate at a West Hollywood intellectual property firm, and at Fulbright and Jaworski's Los Angeles office where he practiced with Robert Berliner. In addition to his strong biotechnology background, he has patent expertise in organic and inorganic chemistry, mechanical devices, and business method patents practice. His practice is primarily transactional, focusing on patent applications, trademark and copyright registrations, licensing agreements, and related matters.

Dr. Tun received his Ph.D. from Kings College, University of London where his doctoral work focused on ways in which immunological, biochemical and molecular genetic techniques could be used to predict the development of insulin-dependent diabetes. Dr. Tun continued this work as a post-doctoral investigator at both the University of California at Irvine and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Later, at the University of Southern California, he studied how retroviruses could be used as gene therapy vectors for the treatment of various human diseases. He then onducted research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, using DNA probes to help identify genes involved in the development of inherited deafness. As a consequence of his doctoral and post-doctoral experience, Dr. Tun has an exceptionally broad technical background in the area of biotechnology, including subjects such as immunology, virology, genetics, and organic chemistry.

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

Modifier locus for mitochondrial DNA disease: linkage and linkage disequilibrium mapping of a nuclear modifier gene for maternally inherited deafness. Genet Med. 2001 May-Jun; 3(3):177-80. Bykhovskaya Y, Yang H, Taylor K, Hang T, Tun RY, Estivill X, Casano RA, Majamaa K, Shohat M, Fischel-Ghodsian N.

Targeting retroviral vectors to CD34-expressing cells: binding to CD34 does not catalyze virus-cell fusion. Hum Gene Ther. 1999 Mar 1; 10(4): 545-57.Benedict CA, Tun RY, Rubinstein DB, Guillaume T, Cannon PM, Anderson WF.

Antibodies to heat shock protein 65 kD in type 1 diabetes mellitus. Diabet Med. 1994 Jan-Feb; 11(1): 66-70. Tun RY, Smith MD, Lo SS, Rook GA, Lydyard P, Leslie RD.

Importance of persistent cellular and humoral immune changes before diabetes develops: prospective study of identical twins. BMJ, April 23, 1994; 308(6936): 1063 - 1068. R Y M Tun, M Peakman, L Alviggi, M J Hussain, S S S Lo, M Shattock, D A Pyke, G F Bottazzo, D Vergani, and R D G Leslie.

Antibodies to GAD and tryptic fragments of islet 64K antigen as distinct markers for development of IDDM. Studies with identical twins. Diabetes, Vol 41, Issue 7 782-787, 1992. MR Christie, RY Tun, SS Lo, D Cassidy, TJ Brown, J Hollands, M Shattock, GF Bottazzo and RD Leslie.

Non-genetic factors causing type 1 diabetes. Diabet Med. 1991 Aug-Sep; 8(7): 609-18. Review. Lo SS, Tun RY, Leslie RD.

Studies of diabetic twins. Diabetes Metab Rev. 1991 Dec; 7(4): 223-38. Review. Lo SS, Tun RY, Hawa M, Leslie RD.

Evidence of beta cell dysfunction which does not lead on to diabetes: a study of identical twins of insulin dependent diabetics. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1987 Jan 17; 294(6565): 145-6. Heaton DA, Millward BA, Gray P, Tun Y, Hales CN, Pyke DA, Leslie RD.

Increased proinsulin levels as an early indicator of B-cell dysfunction in non-diabetic twins of type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients. Diabetologia. 1988 Mar; 31(3): 182-4. Heaton DA, Millward BA, Gray IP, Tun Y, Hales CN, Pyke DA, Leslie RD.

Educational Background

Dr. Tun received a B.S. in 1984 in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in 1997 in Immunology from Kings College, University of London, U.K., and a J.D. in 2003 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

BAR MEMBERSHIPS

Dr. Tun is admitted to practice before all of the State Courts in California. He is a registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.