Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 04, 2026

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Transportation, E-Commerce & Mechanical Systems

6 pending office actions • 5 art units • 6 examiners • 0 of 6 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 7 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Howard Hughes Medical Institute is currently managing 6 pending office actions within the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. These 6 pending office actions are distributed among 6 distinct examiners, which indicates that each active case is being evaluated by a different individual. This distribution means that the company prosecution experience is not concentrated under 1 official.

The busiest examiner for this portfolio is PERSONS, JENNA L, who is responsible for 1 pending office action. Since the total of 6 pending office actions is spread across 6 distinct examiners, PERSONS, JENNA L handles a portion of the workload that is equal to the other examiners involved. This creates a decentralized prosecution environment where the company must address the specific feedback of 6 different people.

The involvement of 5 distinct art units means that the technical review is conducted across different specialized groups at the patent office. With 6 distinct examiners and 5 distinct art units, the company must navigate various procedural preferences and technical standards. The company must tailor its responses to the specific requirements of the 5 distinct art units involved in the prosecution of these cases.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Portfolio Summary

6
Total Pending OAs
3
Non-Final OAs
3
Final Rejections
0
Advisory / Quayle

Case Difficulty Mix

Difficulty is derived from the rejection statutes on the most recent pending office action. §101-driven and multi-statute cases are graded Hard; §112-only and obviousness-type double-patenting cases are graded Easy; everything else is Medium. "Unknown" means we have not yet parsed a statute for that office action.

1
Hard (17%)
4
Medium (67%)
1
Easy (17%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§103 only2 (33%)
§112 only1 (17%)
Double-patenting + other2 (33%)
Multi-statute (no §101)1 (17%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

4
Life Sciences
67% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
0
Semiconductors
0% of docket
1
Mechanical / Eng
17% of docket
1
Business / Other
17% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

Manual office-action response work runs about 10 hours per case. The time-saved bands below show what IP Author's prosecution pipeline typically delivers — a conservative 20% on the low end, 35% in the middle, 50% on the high end.

60 h
Manual time on pending OAs
12 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
21 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
0.5 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
PERSONS, JENNA L 1 50.8% +61.7%
LUU, THANH X 1 78.2% +10.2%
WANG, MICHAEL H 1 52.1% +25.5%
WILLIS, DOUGLAS M 1 82.4% +19.7%
REGA, KYLE THOMAS 1 62.7% +41.4%
OGUNTADE, ELIZABETH BISOLA 1 0.0% +0.0%

Quick Wins (1)

Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
18390289 COMPOUNDS AND COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING FLUOROPHORES FOR USE IN VISUALIZATION AND PURIFICATION OR MANIPULATION WILLIS, DOUGLAS M —

Hard Cases (1)

Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17553725 ENGINEERED OPIOID BIOSENSORS OGUNTADE, ELIZABETH BISOLA —

Interview Candidates (5)

Cases in front of an examiner whose interview lift is 10 percentage points or more — i.e. interviewed cases historically resolve more favorably than non-interviewed ones. The top 5 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
19529937 MODIFIED LIGAND-GATED ION CHANNELS AND METHODS OF USE PERSONS, JENNA L —
18986227 PHASE DIVERSITY-BASED WAVEFRONT SENSING FOR FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY LUU, THANH X —
18953535 PASSIVE VOLUNTARY POSITIONING OF ANIMAL FOR MICROSCOPY WANG, MICHAEL H —
18390289 COMPOUNDS AND COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING FLUOROPHORES FOR USE IN VISUALIZATION AND PURIFICATION OR MANIPULATION WILLIS, DOUGLAS M —
18318997 TRYPTOPHAN-CONTAINING CHEMIGENETIC FLUORESCENT INDICATOR REGA, KYLE THOMAS —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1637 1
3642 1
1624 1
1636 1
1677 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19529937 MODIFIED LIGAND-GATED ION CHANNELS AND METHODS OF USE PERSONS, JENNA L 1637 §102§103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Feb 04, 2026
18986227 PHASE DIVERSITY-BASED WAVEFRONT SENSING FOR FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY LUU, THANH X — §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 18, 2024
18953535 PASSIVE VOLUNTARY POSITIONING OF ANIMAL FOR MICROSCOPY WANG, MICHAEL H 3642 §103 Final Rejection — Pending Nov 20, 2024
18390289 COMPOUNDS AND COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING FLUOROPHORES FOR USE IN VISUALIZATION AND PURIFICATION OR MANIPULATION WILLIS, DOUGLAS M 1624 §112 Final Rejection — Pending Dec 20, 2023
18318997 TRYPTOPHAN-CONTAINING CHEMIGENETIC FLUORESCENT INDICATOR REGA, KYLE THOMAS 1636 §103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending May 17, 2023
17553725 ENGINEERED OPIOID BIOSENSORS OGUNTADE, ELIZABETH BISOLA 1677 §102§112 Final Rejection — Pending Dec 16, 2021

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