My Start in Science

April 29th, 2025 by Ken Zeidner

Hi All,

As promised, today is my first entry explaining how I got into patent law following a career in science. I became interested in biology while in high school, so I majored in biological sciences while at Rutgers. However, I enjoyed freedom a little too much, and ended up failing out twice.

In some respects, this was the best thing that could have happened because it scared the living you-know-what out of me. While pumping gas, I decided to buckle down. I begged the Dean for one more chance, went to summer school, and finished my last semester at Rutgers with a 4.0. It was then that I decided to go to graduate school. However, since my overall GPA was only 2.5, I realized I would have to start with a Master’s degree.

After kicking butt on the GRE, I was accepted into several MS programs. This proved to me that previous mistakes can be overcome by hard work, and that people are generally forgiving. I decided on James Madison University (JMU) after visiting the school (Harrisonburg, VA is a beautiful place to live).

I was lucky to quickly hook up with a great advisor whose research interest was enzymology of crustaceans. After having several wonderful blue-crab bakes, my research involved purification of digestive enzymes from the buggers. This provided me with excellent hands-on experience with various chromatography and assay systems. While at JMU, I taught undergrad biology to pay for my tuition. Such teaching experience has proven invaluable. To this day, I feel very comfortable talking in front of large groups.

The course work at JMU was very diverse, and I took classes in limnology, botany and microbiology. However, it was one class in particular that ended up shaping my future…