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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-2, 6, 9-10, 15, 17, 21-23, 25, 29-30, 32-33, in the reply filed on 05/18/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 40, 84, 121, 155-156 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/18/2026.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-2, 6, 9-10, 15, 17, 21-23, 25, 29-30, 32-33 objected to because of the following informalities: claim 1 contains periods after the various step designations (“a”, “i”, “ii”, “b”, etc.). These periods must be removed. Appropriate correction is required. Claims 2, 6, 9-10, 15, 17, 21-23, 25, 29-30, 32-33 are objected to based on dependency from claim 1.
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) 1, 2, 6, 32 and 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipate by Jang (KR-102052853-B1). A machine translation of the specification of KR-102052853-B1 is attached.
Regarding claim 1, Jang disclosed a method for detecting a nucleic acid of interest in a sample, the method comprising:
a. contacting the sample with an oligonucleotide binding reagent, wherein the oligonucleotide binding reagent comprises:
i. a targeting agent complement;
ii. an amplification primer;
iii. a hybridization region comprising a complementary sequence to the nucleic acid of interest;
and iv. an amplification blocker;
Fig. 1A shows the oligonucleotide binding reagent (“Barcode-probe (BP)):
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The barcode region serves as the targeting agent complement and amplification primer. The probe region serves as the hybridization region. The blocker serves as the amplification blocker.
b. forming a binding complex comprising the nucleic acid of interest and the oligonucleotide binding reagent;
Fig. 6 shows the barcode probe hybridized to the target.
c. contacting the binding complex with a site-specific nuclease that cleaves the oligonucleotide binding reagent to remove the amplification blocker therefrom, thereby generating a first cleaved oligonucleotide comprising the targeting agent complement and the amplification primer, wherein the first cleaved oligonucleotide is not bound to the nucleic acid of interest;
Fig. 6 shows Taq polymerase cleaving the barcode probe to remove the hybridization region and blocker from the barcode region.
d. immobilizing the first cleaved oligonucleotide to a detection surface comprising a targeting agent, wherein the targeting agent is a binding partner of the targeting agent complement;
Fig. 1B shows an encoding particle, representing a detection surface, with an attached barcode-receptor, representing the targeting agent. Fig. 7 shows the liberated barcode region hybridized to the barcode-receptor on the encoding particle.
e. extending the first cleaved oligonucleotide on the detection surface to form an extended oligonucleotide;
Fig. 7 shows the extension of the barcode region.
and f. detecting the extended oligonucleotide, thereby detecting the nucleic acid of interest in the sample.
Fig. 7 shows cleavage of the extended barcode region with a restriction enzyme, separating a quencher from a fluorophore in the barcode receptor to generate a signal. The existence of the extended barcode region (corresponding to the claimed “extended oligonucleotide”) is detected via this signal.
Regarding claim 2, Jang meets at least option (a).
Regarding claim 6, Jang meets the latter option, as the Taq polymerase cleaves the barcode probe at the junction between the barcode region and the probe region (i.e. hybridization region).
Regarding claims 32 and 33, Jang amplifies the cleaved barcode region during PCR; see paragraph [0032] of the attached machine translation.
Conclusion
Claims 9, 10, 15, 17, 21-23, 25, 29 and 30 are free of the prior art but objected to as noted above and because they depend (directly or indirectly) from a rejected claim.
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.
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/SAMUEL C WOOLWINE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1681
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