DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 08/18/2026 is acknowledged. Claim 1 was amended to incorporate the limitations of dependent claims 25 and 28, in the alternative. New claim 68 has been added, which amounts to previous dependent claim 64 written in independent form. Each of claims 25, 28 and 64 were indicated to be allowable if written in independent form including all limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. None of the other amendments raise any new issues. Therefore, the amendment is entered.
A call was placed to applicant’s representative to request authorization for an examiner’s amendment (see attached interview summary). However, following that interview and subsequent consideration, new claim 68 was determined not to be in condition for allowance, and new grounds of rejection for this claim are set forth below. Therefore, the changes suggested by the examiner may be made in response to this Office action. This Office action is NON-FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 68 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Strecker (Science 365:48-53 (2019)).
Strecker disclosed a system comprising:
(a) a reporter nucleic acid comprising a tag;
(b) a guide RNA that comprises a nucleic acid sequence complementary to a gRNA target nucleic acid sequence;
(c) a CRISPR RNA-guided Cas-transposase system;
and (d) a recipient nucleic acid
See Fig. 5:
PNG
media_image1.png
493
822
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Regarding part (a), the instant specification states (paragraph [0041]): “The reporter nucleic acid may be DNA or RNA and may comprise single-stranded nucleic acids, double-stranded nucleic acids, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the reporter nucleic acid comprises double-stranded DNA. The reporter nucleic acid may comprise a tag. The tag is a molecule or moiety that can be detected, either directly or indirectly.”
Strecker’s transposable nucleic acid contains “cargo genes” (see Fig 5, bottom), which could be detected following their insertion into the target nucleic acid, and therefore these “cargo genes” fall within the broad definition of a “tag”.
Conclusion
Claims 1, 9, 10, 14, 15, 21, 24, 27, 29, 31-33 and 62-67 are allowed. Claim 68 is rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL C WOOLWINE whose telephone number is (571)272-1144. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, GARY BENZION can be reached at 571-272-0782. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SAMUEL C WOOLWINE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1681
Prosecution Insights