GARY R. TANIGAWA graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science (honors) in Biology. He earned a Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University in 1991. Dr. Tanigawa attended the Georgetown University Law Center and received a J.D. cum laude in 1999.

As a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, he did research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the area of immunology and organ transplantation. Dr. Tanigawa's Ph.D. thesis showed that genetic mutations caused an inherited human heart disease. As an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he used a combination of molecular biology, biochemistry, and cell biology to study protein processing and transport. Dr. Tanigawa is an author of scientific articles that have been published in Nature, Science, Cell, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, The Journal of Cell Biology, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The Astrophysical Journal.

As an examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, his docket included vaccines and immunological assays. Dr. Tanigawa joined Cushman, Darby & Cushman in 1996 as a law clerk and continued through its merger with Pillsbury Madison & Sutro. After graduation from law school, he continued there as an associate and through its merger as Pillsbury Winthrop. In 2001, Dr. Tanigawa accepted an invitation to join Nixon & Vanderhye.

Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Dr. Tanigawa is also admitted to practice in Virginia. His legal experience includes preparing and prosecuting patent applications, counseling clients, rendering opinions on patent validity and infringement, and intellectual property transactions, especially in the fields of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.