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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is responsive to the communication received 01/26/2026.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse in the Reply filed on 01/26/2026 of Group I, claims 4-7 and 24-39 is acknowledged.
Applicant has elected without traverse in the Reply filed on 01/26/2026 the following species:
A. the first and second ligase are the same (claim 6)
The Restriction/Election Requirements are deemed proper and are made FINAL.
Claims 4-7 and 24-39 are pending.
Claims 4-7 and 24-39 are under examination in this Office Action.
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.
Claims 4-7 and 24-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Vivancos et al. (2010) Genome Research volume 20 pages 989 to 999 cited in the 10/11/2023 IDS (hereinafter known as "Vivancos").
With regards to claims 4-7 and 24-39, Vivancos teaches:
a) as in claims 4-7 and 24-39, a method of preparing a nucleic acid library, comprising: (a) obtaining a plurality of double-stranded nucleic acids; (b) contacting the double-stranded nucleic acids with a 5′ exonuclease to obtain a plurality of modified double-stranded nucleic acids with single-stranded 3′ overhangs; (c) ligating a first adaptor to the 3′ ends of the modified double-stranded nucleic acids in the presence of a first ligase, wherein a 3′ end of the first adaptor comprises a blocking group; (d) dehybridizing the modified double-stranded nucleic acids ligated to the first adaptors to obtain a plurality of single-stranded nucleic acids; and (e) ligating a second adaptor to the 5′ ends of the single-stranded nucleic acids in the presence of a second ligase, thereby obtaining a library of nucleic acids; wherein the 5′ end of the second adaptor is non-phosphorylated; wherein the first and second ligase are the same; wherein steps (b)-(e) are performed in a single reaction volume; wherein the first adaptor and/or second adaptor comprises a sequencing primer binding site from a P7 sequence; wherein the first adaptor and/or second adaptor comprises an adaptor index indicative of the source of the plurality of nucleic acids; wherein the adaptor index for the first adaptor is different from the adaptor index for the second adaptor; wherein the blocking group comprises a 3'-spacer C3; wherein the first ligase comprises a single-stranded nucleic acid ligase; wherein the ligation of the first adaptor and/or the ligation of the second adaptor is performed in the presence of a volume excluding agent; wherein the volume excluding agent is a polyethylene glycol (PEG); wherein the first ligation step and/or second ligation step is performed in a reaction volume comprising at least 60 % (wt/vol)
PEG; wherein the plurality of nucleic acids comprises RNA; wherein the plurality of double-stranded nucleic acids comprises cDNA; wherein the average length of a nucleic acid of the plurality of double-stranded nucleic acids is less than about 200 nucleotides; wherein the plurality of double-stranded nucleic acids is obtained from a fixed sample; further comprising amplifying the library of double-stranded nucleic acids; further comprising obtaining sequence data from the library of nucleic acids (see entire document especially Figure 1, Figure 2, abstract and pages 995 to 998).
Thus, Vivancos anticipates the present claims.
Conclusion
No claim is allowed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Christian Boesen whose telephone number is 571-270-1321. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
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/CHRISTIAN C BOESEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1684
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