Mapping nanotechnology patents: The EPO approach

As a consequence of large public and private investments in new technologies at the nanoscale, an increase in the filing numbers of European and PCT patent applications related to nanotechnology is expected at the European Patent Office (EPO) in the coming years. A strategy has been devised to prepare the EPO for potential impacts this interdisciplinary emerging technology might have on workload per technical field, classification and search. A part of the strategy has been to create an internal working group on nanotechnology (NTWG) of patent examiners from different technical fields reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of this 'size' defined emerging field. First results of this NTWG are agreement within the EPO on a definition of nanotechnology and the creation of the corresponding tagging system Y01N which enables the monitoring of the evolution of patenting trends in this area of technology. The tags overcome the intrinsic difficulties in retrieving relevant patent publications from the huge amount of information contained in the EPO's patent databases. In addition it is expected that access to Y01N via esp@cenet terms will simplify prior art search of nanotechnology patents and will support strategic decision making for economists, investors or funding agencies in nanotechnology.Nanotechnology Nanobiotechnology Nanooptics Nanomagnetics EPO examiners ECLA Tagging Y01N Interdisciplinary searches Patent trends

Spatial analyses of immune cell infiltration in cancer: current methods and future directions: A report of the International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group on Breast Cancer.

Modern histologic imaging platforms coupled with machine learning methods have provided new opportunities to map the spatial distribution of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. However, there exists no standardized method for describing or analyzing spatial immune cell data, and most reported spatial analyses are rudimentary. In this review, we provide an overview of two approaches for reporting and analyzing spatial data (raster versus vector-based). We then provide a compendium of spatial immune cell metrics that have been reported in the literature, summarizing prognostic associations in the context of a variety of cancers. We conclude by discussing two well-described clinical biomarkers, the breast cancer stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes score and the colon cancer Immunoscore, and describe investigative opportunities to improve clinical utility of these spatial biomarkers. © 2023 The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland