Candi Lesarge | Cincinnati Law Stories - Donald P. Klekamp College of Law

In early 2018, Candi LaSarge, Ph.D. (JD ‘26), set out to study the characteristics of spreading depolarization. A neuroscientist by training, she and her collaborators designed a project to monitor how neurons depolarize in a wave when the brain is injured. To observe this phenomenon as it occurred, they would need specialized technical equipment. The challenge was that technology did not yet exist—they would need to invent it. That’s when questions about intellectual property rights and patenting began to surface.

“There were some broad questions about intellectual property at first–what is it? How does it work? And different people tell you different things. At some point I started looking into it,” she said. “As I started down the rabbit hole, it became evident to me how hard it really is to get something patented.”

Ultimately, the team’s engineer, Matthew Batie, created a microscope insert equipped with anesthesia that made their research possible. The scientists on the team began to present this research in late 2018 and published their findings in 2023, unaware of the consequences of these disclosures. Unclear on the patenting process, the decision to secure the technology’s IP was never made. Now, it would be too late.

“Even if we decided we wanted to, it can never be patented,” Candi said. “We presented it at a whole lot of scientific conferences, it’s been published– everything was disclosed very early on.”

That was before she went to law school.

Born in Chicagoland, Illinois, she “grew up in science.” She attended the Illinois Math and Science Academy before earning dual Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington in cellular & molecular biology and psychology. She went on to earn her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in behavioral and cellular neuroscience, studying age-related cognitive decline.

In 2011, Candi came to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for postdoctoral research in epilepsy and brain injury. She advanced to a faculty position in 2017, and in 2021, she joined the Neuroscience Graduate Program faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

As principal investigator of an independent lab at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Candi leads technicians and students in epilepsy research. Initially, what sparked her unexpected pathway to law was a question: how might science better bring innovative solutions directly to patients whose seizures don't respond to traditional medications?

“One-third of our patient population does not have relief from their seizures. How can we do better?” she asked. “We're at a time in science where we’re ripe for innovation, it just needs to be fostered.”

Part of the solution was intellectual property protection. Without it, cutting-edge technologies can remain stuck in the lab, unable to reach the people they’re meant to help. But with little or no legal training, she and other scientists often unknowingly compromise their IP through collaboration—sharing research over lunch at conferences, presenting findings to small audiences, and welcoming feedback.

“Public disclosures are happening everywhere,” she lamented.

Increasingly aware of this dilemma and unable to fully unravel it on her own, Candi became engulfed with the desire to learn everything she could about IP law and bring it back to her fellow scientists.

“So much of what we do in science overlaps with intellectual property law,” she said. “It's essential for us [scientists] to understand how everything works in the legal space.”

So, she started where most people would: Google.

So much of what we do in science overlaps with intellectual property law. It's essential for us [scientists] to understand how everything works in the legal space.

“I don't like to be in the dark. Let’s learn. Let’s understand this,” she said. “The more I asked, the more my interest in intellectual property grew.”

It quickly became evident to Candi that no amount of IP workshops or Googling would offer her the full-picture understanding she was seeking. That’s when she decided to bring her question to the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Just minutes from her lab and nearby where her daughter was attending school at the Lindner College of Business, it was a place that already felt somewhat familiar. She just never imagined entering the building as a prospective student.

A little more than a year later, and twelve years after earning her Ph.D., Candi was enrolled in Cincinnati Law’s Flex JD program. She had been taken in by the opportunity to see science from an exciting new vantage point as an intellectual property lawyer.

“IP lawyers know all of the cool stuff that's going on way before the public. And what's cooler than helping somebody move towards a greater, innovative space?” she said.

Earning both a Ph.D. and a JD is rare. But to Candi, pursuing a law degree as a career scientist felt like the truest, most logical next step in a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and purpose.

“For me, it’s the hope of what these life science discoveries can do, and the hope of what new technologies will bring to all of our community members to make life better, easier,” she said.

For me, it’s the hope of what these life science discoveries can do, and the hope of what new technologies will bring to all of our community members to make life better, easier.

Candi LeSarge Class of 2027

The structure of Cincinnati Law's Flex-Time program made it possible for her to continue leading her lab while taking law classes. Balancing roles as principal investigator, mentor, mother, instructor, co-chair of an American Epilepsy Society committee, and law student, she describes herself as living a “double life.”

“I wasn't really sure how law school was going to weave into my life. It's a lot of long hours. But I think because I enjoy it, school feels like my hobby right now,” Candi said. “You can never have too much education, you can never have too much experience.”

Her scientific background has served her well as a law student. Years of analytical training, academic writing, and the ability to absorb complex material in a short amount of time made her transition to law successful, as did her scientific community.

She credits every community she belongs to, including at Children's Hospital, Cincinnati Law, and the College of Medicine, for helping her weather the toughest moments along her law school journey.

“There's a tremendous amount of support that I have had to be successful. It’s not me doing it alone, it's me doing it with a huge network that is fostering my growth and movement forward,” she said. “Not only were there fabulous professors to learn from that can guide me on this new journey, but I find Cincinnati Law to be a supportive, collaborative environment. I can drop in to my professor's office with questions or a conversation about something I’m reading. It’s fun to have such a wealth of experts to tap into.”

Courses on patent law and patent prosecution, in addition to her involvement in the Patent and Trademark Clinic this semester, have opened her eyes. This summer, Candi will intern at Seed IP in Seattle, gaining real-life experience working alongside attorneys who specialize in supporting scientists to protect their discoveries. The opportunity came through a Federal Bar Association mentoring connection that led to a Cincinnati Law alum, and ultimately to a call with an attorney at Seed IP.

“ I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works in practice, the client relationships and guidance, and what kind of impact you can have in that community,” she said. “ I’ll get to learn about a different science in the morning versus the afternoon. That is really exciting.”

When she enrolled in the Flex-Time program at Cincinnati Law, she did not expect it would mean working in Seattle for a summer or enjoying it so much she’d be able to graduate a semester early. But she especially did not predict she would be closing her lab and transitioning into a law career. As she prepares for this unanticipated transition, she knows there is still important work to finish. Over these next few months, her team will be finalizing research examining how misplaced and oversized neurons create a "noisy" communication network, where excessive excitation and weakened inhibition contribute to seizures. They plan to submit their data for publication in May, one month before she heads to the west coast for her internship.

This fall, when she lands back in Cincinnati, with no lab to return to and one semester away from graduating, she will be standing at the intersection of cutting-edge science and legal strategy, a feeling both exciting and familiar.

“That day when I no longer have a lab will be weird…The initial thought was that this is the end of my career,” she said. “But then I had this realization that I’m part of the same community working to change patient outcomes. Instead of working on innovations, I’m transitioning to be a liaison for the innovation. I’m on the same mission."

Want to learn more about our students and their journey to (and through) law school? Read more stories on the "Meet Our Students" page. See yourself at Cincinnati Law!

Author: Bachmeyer Press

Photographer: Isaiah Armstrong

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