Technology area: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
3 pending office actions • 3 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2 patents granted in the last 365 days
The University of Memphis Research Foundation maintains a company patent portfolio within the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. The data indicates that there are 3 pending office actions currently active. These actions are handled by 3 distinct examiners, ensuring that no two pending matters are under the review of the same individual. This distribution of 3 pending office actions is also reflected in the 3 distinct art units involved in the prosecution.
The busiest examiner for this portfolio is NGUYEN, NAM P, who is responsible for 1 busiest examiner pending office action. Since there are 3 distinct examiners for 3 pending office actions, each examiner is currently managing exactly one action. This one to one ratio between actions, examiners, and art units suggests a broad spread of the foundation's biological and pharmaceutical innovations across different USPTO specialties.
For a patent practitioner, this configuration means that the 3 pending office actions will each be subject to the unique standards and examiner preferences of 3 distinct art units. The lack of overlap among the 3 distinct examiners prevents any single person's habits from having a disproportionate impact on the portfolio. Managing these 3 pending office actions requires a versatile strategy that can adapt to three different technical review environments within the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals field.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
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 |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 2 (67%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (33%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NGUYEN, NAM P | 1 | 54.8% | +48.7% |
| MCDOWELL, BRIAN E | 1 | 74.0% | +31.0% |
| SCHLIENTZ, LEAH H | 1 | 41.8% | +38.7% |
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 # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16954112 | COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR THE DETECTION AND MOLECULAR PROFILING OF MEMBRANE BOUND VESICLES | SCHLIENTZ, LEAH H | — |
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 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17702656 | CONTROLLING BIOFILMS WITH CYCLOPROPANATED FATTY ACIDS | MCDOWELL, BRIAN E | 8d overdue |
| 18132746 | COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR THE DETECTION AND MOLECULAR PROFILING OF MEMBRANE BOUND VESICLES WITH NANOPARTICLES | NGUYEN, NAM P | 12d |
| 16954112 | COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR THE DETECTION AND MOLECULAR PROFILING OF MEMBRANE BOUND VESICLES | SCHLIENTZ, LEAH H | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1678 | 1 |
| 1624 | 1 |
| 1618 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18132746 | COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR THE DETECTION AND MOLECULAR PROFILING OF MEMBRANE BOUND VESICLES WITH NANOPARTICLES | NGUYEN, NAM P | 1678 | §103 | Final Rejection | 12d | Pending | Apr 10, 2023 |
| 17702656 | CONTROLLING BIOFILMS WITH CYCLOPROPANATED FATTY ACIDS | MCDOWELL, BRIAN E | 1624 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 8d overdue | Pending | Mar 23, 2022 |
| 16954112 | COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR THE DETECTION AND MOLECULAR PROFILING OF MEMBRANE BOUND VESICLES | SCHLIENTZ, LEAH H | 1618 | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 17, 2020 |
IP Author helps IP teams respond to office actions faster with AI-generated responses, examiner analytics, and prosecution intelligence.
Start Free TrialThe University of Memphis Research Foundation has 3 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 3 art units and 3 examiners.
Nam P Nguyen has the most, with 1 of The University of Memphis Research Foundation's pending office actions.
Mostly Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals (USPTO Tech Center 1600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
