Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
115 pending office actions • 62 art units • 106 examiners • 0 of 115 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 110 patents granted in the last 365 days
Northwestern University has 116 pending office actions in the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. These actions are spread across 63 distinct art units, reflecting a broad range of biological and pharmaceutical research. The university is working with 107 distinct examiners to advance these applications, which suggests that almost every pending matter is being reviewed by a unique individual. This broad distribution across 63 distinct art units requires a versatile legal strategy to address the specific requirements of many different technical groups.
Moussa Maher Haddad is the busiest examiner for the portfolio, managing 3 pending office actions. The remaining pending actions are distributed among the other 107 distinct examiners, showing a high degree of decentralization. This structure minimizes the risk of a single examiner creating a bottleneck for the entire portfolio. However, managing 116 pending office actions across 107 distinct examiners requires careful oversight to maintain consistency in arguments across the 63 distinct art units. The involvement of 63 distinct art units further highlights the complexity of the university's research portfolio, as it spans many different specialized areas of biotechnology examination.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 34 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
Every pending office action with a known statutory deadline, placed on a days-until-due axis. Dots left of Today are overdue; the further right, the more runway. Cases that share a deadline window stack vertically. 34 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.
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.
| Bucket | Cases |
|---|---|
| §101 only | 1 (1%) |
| §101 + other | 23 (20%) |
| §103 only | 21 (18%) |
| §102 only | 5 (4%) |
| §112 only | 3 (3%) |
| Double-patenting only | 2 (2%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 8 (7%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 52 (45%) |
How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.
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.
| Examiner | Apps on this docket | Allow rate | Interview lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| HADDAD, MOUSSA MAHER | 3 | 26.7% | +33.0% |
| EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | 2 | 59.2% | +62.7% |
| ZHU, JIANJIAN | 2 | 58.8% | +82.4% |
| SKROBARCZYK III, ROBERT ANTHONY | 2 | 16.7% | +16.3% |
| SALMON, KATHERINE D | 2 | 42.8% | +37.9% |
| EIX, EMILY FAY | 2 | 45.5% | +78.3% |
| SHIN, DANA H | 2 | 26.9% | +27.1% |
| BUTTICE, AUDREY L | 2 | 47.6% | +26.4% |
| BRUTUS, JOEL F | 1 | 72.8% | +17.8% |
| ALLEN, MARIANNE P | 1 | 60.0% | +18.3% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18780061 | MACHINE LEARNING-BASED RISK-CLASSIFICATION OF ENDOMERIAL CANCER | PATEL, SHERYL GOPAL | 139d overdue |
| 18245324 | CLASSIFICATION OF FUNCTIONAL LUMEN IMAGING PROBE DATA | HOEKSTRA, JEFFREY GERBEN | 70d overdue |
| 18572345 | MULTIPLEXED ANTIGEN-BASED DETECTION OF SARS-COV-2 AND OTHER DISEASES USING NANOMECHANICAL SENSORS | MCCORMACK, ERIN KATHLEEN | 67d overdue |
| 17421677 | RAPID REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION QUANTITATIVE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION | GIAMMONA, FRANCESCA FILIPPA | 30d overdue |
| 18009384 | HYDRATION SENSOR FOR MONITORING AND DIAGNOSIS OF SKIN DISEASES IN ANY ENVIRONMENT AND APPLICATION OF SAME | PARK, EVELYN GRACE | 26d overdue |
| 19122087 | Systems and Methods to Identify Commercialization and Partnership Potential for Research Institutions | SCHNEIDER, JOSHUA D | 18d overdue |
| 18865562 | Anatomic Imaging Derived 4D Hemodynamics Using Deep Learning | JASANI, ASHISH SHIRISH | 16d overdue |
| 18215701 | Methods and Materials for Matching Chemistry of Individuals and Human Melanin | JARRETT, LORE RAMILLANO | 16d overdue |
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 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18249057 | USE OF REELIN FOR TREATING CARDIAC DISEASES | BUTTICE, AUDREY L | 16d overdue |
| 17287668 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF MAMMAL SUBJECT AND APPLICATIONS OF SAME | HADDAD, MOUSSA MAHER | 12d |
| 19259540 | SLIDING BIOACTIVE PEPTIDES FOR THERAPEUTIC DELIVERY | ALLEN, MARIANNE P | 14d |
| 16951638 | METHOD OF USING CHECKPOINT KINASE INHIBITOR THERAPY TO MODULATE ANTI-TUMORAL RESPONSE AGAINST CANCER AND SENSITIZE GLIOMAS TO IMMUNOTHERAPY | BUTTICE, AUDREY L | 57d |
| 19311921 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HIGHLY PARALLEL ULTRASONIC DETECTION USING MICRO-RING RESONATOR IN AN ARRAY FORMAT | BRUTUS, JOEL F | — |
| 19259714 | HUMAN SPINAL CORD INJURY ORGANOIDS | EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | — |
| 18941862 | BIOACTIVE AND ANTIOXIDANT SUPRAMOLECULAR POLYMER HYDROGELS FOR NEURAL CELL CULTURE | ZHU, JIANJIAN | — |
| 18929526 | COST EFFECTIVE CULTURE MEDIA AND PROTOCOL FOR HUMAN INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS | ZHU, JIANJIAN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1652 | 4 |
| 3796 | 4 |
| 3791 | 4 |
| 1635 | 4 |
| 3797 | 3 |
| 1647 | 3 |
| 1626 | 3 |
| 3783 | 3 |
| 1682 | 3 |
| 1681 | 3 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19311921 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HIGHLY PARALLEL ULTRASONIC DETECTION USING MICRO-RING RESONATOR IN AN ARRAY FORMAT | BRUTUS, JOEL F | 3797 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 27, 2025 |
| 19259540 | SLIDING BIOACTIVE PEPTIDES FOR THERAPEUTIC DELIVERY | ALLEN, MARIANNE P | 1647 | §102§103§112Other | Final Rejection | 14d | Pending | Jul 03, 2025 |
| 19259714 | HUMAN SPINAL CORD INJURY ORGANOIDS | EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | 1632 | §101§102§103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 03, 2025 |
| 19227080 | PROGRAMMABLE STREAMING ARCHITECTURE FOR LOW-ENERGY HUMAN-CENTRIC VISION APPLICATIONS | NGUYEN, KATHLEEN V | 2486 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 03, 2025 |
| 19215178 | INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY FOR INTRAOPERATIVE FUNCTIONAL MAPPING | POPESCU, GABRIEL VICTOR | 3797 | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 21, 2025 |
| 19129428 | Fluid-Structure Instability-Based Physiomarker | LY, TOMMY TAI | 3797 | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 13, 2025 |
| 19122087 | Systems and Methods to Identify Commercialization and Partnership Potential for Research Institutions | SCHNEIDER, JOSHUA D | 3626 | §101§103§112 | Final Rejection | 18d overdue | Pending | Apr 17, 2025 |
| 19111123 | TRANSVENUS REVERSIBLE ELECTROPORATION | WEBSTER, KARMEL JOHANNA | — | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 12, 2025 |
| 19053742 | Efficient Ray-Tracing Rendering Processor with Optimization for Mobile Devices and Support of Inverse Rendering | PATEL, SHIVANG I | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2025 |
| 19049835 | OPERATIVE VAGINAL SCOPE | MATTHEWS, TESSA M | 3773 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 27d | Pending | Feb 10, 2025 |
| 18880219 | REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES RESPONSIVE CLEAVABLE HIERARCHIAL METALLIC SUPRANANOSTRUCTURES | SCHLEIS, DANIEL J | 1784 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 30, 2024 |
| 18876553 | METHODS OF FORMING STABLE CONDUCTIVE SURFACES | CHEN, BRET P | 1718 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | 20d | Pending | Dec 18, 2024 |
| 18865772 | ELECTROTHERAPY SYSTEM AND APPLICATIONS OF SAME | LUKJAN, SEBASTIAN X | 3792 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 14, 2024 |
| 18865562 | Anatomic Imaging Derived 4D Hemodynamics Using Deep Learning | JASANI, ASHISH SHIRISH | 3798 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | 16d overdue | Pending | Nov 13, 2024 |
| 18941862 | BIOACTIVE AND ANTIOXIDANT SUPRAMOLECULAR POLYMER HYDROGELS FOR NEURAL CELL CULTURE | ZHU, JIANJIAN | 1631 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 08, 2024 |
| 18929268 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS RELATING TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR EARLY RECOGNITION OF RARE SKIN DISEASES | BOYAR, NOAH WILLIAM | — | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 28, 2024 |
| 18929526 | COST EFFECTIVE CULTURE MEDIA AND PROTOCOL FOR HUMAN INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS | ZHU, JIANJIAN | — | §102§103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 28, 2024 |
| 18914929 | KERNEL-BASED ERGODIC SEARCH | KARWAN, SIHAR A | 3658 | §103 | Final Rejection | 84d | Pending | Oct 14, 2024 |
| 18901448 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL REMODELING PROGRESSION IN ATRIAL FIBRILLATION | SKROBARCZYK III, ROBERT ANTHONY | — | §101§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 30, 2024 |
| 18886300 | PLATFORM OF COMPOSABLE MAMMALIAN ELEMENTS OF TRANSCRIPTION (COMET) | FRONDA, CHRISTIAN L | 1652 | §103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 16, 2024 |
| 18842004 | (3S,4R)-3-AMINO-4-(DIFLUOROMETHYL)CYCLOPENT-1-ENE-1-CARBOXYLIC ACID AND RELATED COMPOUNDS AS SELECTIVE INACTIVATORS OF ORNITHINE AMINOTRANSFERASE | RAMACHANDRAN, UMAMAHESWARI | — | §102§103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 27, 2024 |
| 18792715 | Synthesis of MEK7 Inhibitors and methods of Use Thereof | OH, TAYLOR V | — | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 02, 2024 |
| 18780061 | MACHINE LEARNING-BASED RISK-CLASSIFICATION OF ENDOMERIAL CANCER | PATEL, SHERYL GOPAL | 3685 | §101§103 | Final Rejection | 139d overdue | Pending | Jul 22, 2024 |
| 18779742 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO PREDICT RADIOFREQUENCY HEATING OF MEDICAL IMPLANTS | SILVA-AVINA, EMMANUEL | 2673 | §101§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 22, 2024 |
| 18777366 | Annuloplasty Ring For Receiving A Replacement Valve | MATHEW, SEEMA | — | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 18, 2024 |
| 18775012 | ENGINEERED PROBIOTICS FOR DETECTION OF GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASE IN HUMANS | DAVIS, RUTH A | — | §102Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 17, 2024 |
| 18776064 | Methods for Sensitizing Gliomas to Immunotherapy | KIFLE, BRUCK | — | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 17, 2024 |
| 18773685 | METHOD TO EVALUATE AND FACT-CHECK AN AI LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL CHAT RESPONSE USING DOMAIN- SPECIFIC AND DOMAIN-AGNOSTIC GUIDANCE FOR PERSONALIZED MEDICAL PROVIDER-PATIENT CONSULT | SAINT CYR, LEONARD | — | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 16, 2024 |
| 18737515 | Systems and Methods for Latent Variable Modeling of Multiscale Neural Signals for Brain-Computer Interfaces | PHAKOUSONH, DARAVANH | — | §101§102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 07, 2024 |
| 18737061 | TISSUE EXPANDER WITH DRUG DELIVERY CAPABILITY | THOMAS, NATALIE NICOLE | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 07, 2024 |
| 18735858 | HUMAN SPINAL CORD INJURY ORGANOIDS | EBBINGHAUS, BRIANA NOEL | 1632 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2024 |
| 18735506 | FORMULATIONS AND METHODS FOR THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF TUMOR METASTASIS AND TUMORIGENESIS | SHIM, DAVID M. | 1626 | §103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 06, 2024 |
| 18648764 | ELECTRICAL MODULATION FOR THE TREATMENT OF BRAIN TUMORS | HADDAD, MOUSSA MAHER | 3796 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 29, 2024 |
| 18640956 | CONDUCTIVE ELASTOMER FOR BLADDER REGENERATION | WEBB, WALTER E | 1612 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 19, 2024 |
| 18631727 | STRUCTURALLY MODIFIED NANOSHEETS OF METAL OXIDES AND RELATED METHODS | OSTWALT, ALEXIS ROSE | 1788 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 10, 2024 |
| 18613535 | CONDUCTIVE NANOMATERIALS AND COMPOSITES THEREOF | NGUYEN, HAIDUNG D | 1761 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 22, 2024 |
| 18691863 | LIPIODOL FORMULATION FOR TRANSARTERIAL CHEMOIMMUNOEMBOLIZATION | ARMSTRONG, SUSANNAH SIPPLE | 1616 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 13, 2024 |
| 18597748 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING AN EMOTIONAL STATE | ABOUELELA, MAY A | 3791 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 06, 2024 |
| 18595057 | DIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE AND CHRONIC LUNG DISEASES BY QUANTIFYING SPINK1 LEVEL | SALMON, KATHERINE D | — | §102§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 04, 2024 |
| 18583685 | CATALASE MIMETIC PEPTIDES | SHELTON, SYNPHANE LA'SHAWN | 1652 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 21, 2024 |
| 18420277 | HIGH-EFFICIENCY GOLD RECOVERY BY ADDITIVE-INDUCED SUPRAMOLECULAR POLYMERIZATION OF CYCLODEXTRIN | CRAIGO, BAHAR ALAWI | 1734 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 23, 2024 |
| 18418897 | LIPOTEICHOIC ACID FROM STAPHYLOCOCCUS EPIDERMIDIS AND ITS USE TO MODULATE NEURONAL ACTIVITY VIA PD-1 INHIBITORY SIGNALLING IN NEURONS | OGUNBIYI, OLUWATOSIN A | 1645 | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 22, 2024 |
| 18412362 | METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR TREATMENT OF HEART FAILURE WITH PRESERVED EJECTION FRACTION | DEKARSKE, MADELINE MCGUIRE | 1622 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 12, 2024 |
| 18404041 | DEVICES AND METHODS FOR LIGHT DELIVERY | SKROBARCZYK III, ROBERT ANTHONY | 3783 | §102§103§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 04, 2024 |
| 18400950 | METHOD OF ELECTRODEPOSITION IN SEAWATER FOR THE GROWTH OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS | CONTRERAS, CIEL P | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 29, 2023 |
| 18572345 | MULTIPLEXED ANTIGEN-BASED DETECTION OF SARS-COV-2 AND OTHER DISEASES USING NANOMECHANICAL SENSORS | MCCORMACK, ERIN KATHLEEN | 3791 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 67d overdue | Pending | Dec 20, 2023 |
| 18572447 | INDOCARBOCYANINE LIPID DERIVATIVES FOR IN VIVO CARGO DELIVERY | MCANANY, JOHN D | 1625 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 20, 2023 |
| 18544247 | GENE THERAPY TREATMENT OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION | LANDSMAN, ROBERT S | — | §103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 18, 2023 |
| 18531821 | METHODS FOR SINGLE CELL NANOPORE SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY AND DATA ANALYSIS | SMITH, JENNIFER JOY | — | §101§102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 07, 2023 |
| 18517238 | HALIDE PEROVSKITE OPTICAL STORAGE AND MEMORY ARRAYS | TOBERGTE, NICHOLAS J | 2824 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 22, 2023 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialNorthwestern University has 115 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 62 art units and 106 examiners.
Moussa Maher Haddad has the most, with 3 of Northwestern University's pending office actions.
Mostly Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals (USPTO Tech Center 1600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.