Daniel Kolker

Throughout his time at USPTO, he served as a patent examiner in the neurobiology area, and rose to the rank of Primary Examiner before eventually becoming Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) for 14 years. In these roles, he wrote office actions on patent applications in neurobiology, cytokines, G-protein coupled receptors, and newly-discovered genes and proteins, and supervised patent examiners working in biotechnology and cell biology. His day-to-day duties included explaining the standards of patentability to new examiners, teaching them how to search to determine if an invention was new or not, and working to improve the quality, timeliness, and efficiency of his employees' work. He participated in daily discussions of patent applications, and served as an expert resource on the topics of subject matter eligibility, double patenting, written description, and countless procedural issues. Dan has delivered lectures on these topics to patent examiners, patent attorneys, scientists, and graduate students. He has issued over 1,000 U.S. patents.

After receiving a B.A. degree in psychology from Vassar College, he worked at a small pharmaceutical company in Cambridge, MA. He then attended Northwestern University, where he earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience, specializing in the effects of advanced age on circadian rhythms. He has authored 8 papers and a book chapter.

When he is not working, Dan spends time with his wife, two kids who are mostly out of the house, and large German Shorthaired Pointer who is sure he's a lap dog. He enjoys cooking, makes bread on occasion, and will always volunteer to bring dessert. As a resident of Washington, DC, he continues to cheer on the Nationals, even though they are still rebuilding.