A Guide for Inventors at INL — 2017 7 Assessment Within six weeks of receiving a disclosure, TD’s staff completes a screening evaluation to determine a recommended course of action for commercialization. The assessment includes patent searches, marketplace analysis and identification of possible licensees to determine the invention’s commercialization poten- tial. The findings are shared with the inventors prior to making a final patenting decision. TD uses results of the assessment to make a decision to pursue IP protection, to hold on a decision while waiting for more data or development, or to forgo IP protection. The evaluation also helps determine whether to focus on licensing to an existing company or a new business startup. More information on Startup Companies by Employees can be found on page 22. Defining prior art: anything that workers in the field have publicly disclosed or made available.This includes any information that is patented, described in a printed publication, in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public as of the date a patent application is filed. Examples of prior art include: papers, abstracts, posters, seminars, presentations, grant applications, online publications, open thesis defenses, journal articles, as well as information known or used by others. Prior art can include the inventor’s own existing patents and publications. Vicki Thompson 2014 Highlights of commercial developments: Vicki’s research in identifying individuals using body fluids – based on the fact that each person has their own specific stable antibody profile – has been commercial- ized as a small, economical, easy-to-handle protein chip that is well-suited for mass production. The eight-patent technology has been licensed to Identity Sciences, LLC, and has won multiple national awards, including R&D 100, 2008 FLC and Stoel Rives Innovation. Vicki’s other specialty is identifying extremophilic enzymes, which are biological catalysts derived from microorganisms that live in extreme environments (for example, very high/low temps, pH, pressures or salinities). Her work has won an R&D 100 award, was the basis for the creation of a new company called Xtreme Biochemical and has resulted in more than 50 patents and patent applications.