DETAILED ACTION
The present Office Action is responsive to the Amendment received on June 5, 2026.
Preliminary Remark
Claim set received on June 5, 2026 appears to indicate that claim 5 is “canceled” and also “currently amended”. The Office assumes that claim 5 is canceled herein.
Claims 5 and 7 are canceled.
Claims 16-20 are new.
Claims 13-15 drawn to a nonelected invention, non-elected without traverse in the reply filed on December 29, 2025 are canceled in the Amendment received on June 6, 2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS received on June 5, 2026 is proper and is being considered by the Examiner. The IDS was received with the fee under 37 CFR 1.17(p).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The rejection of claims 1-10 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter, made in the Office Action mailed on January 23, 2026 is withdrawn in view of the Amendment received on June 5, 2026.
Rejection – New Grounds, Necessitated by Amendment
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 is indefinite for containing a period in the middle of the claim (see step (g) that ends with “bottom electrode.”
For the purpose of prosecution, the claim has been construed so that step (g) ends with a semi-colon.
Claim 1 is also indefinite because the claim recites too many steps that uses the claimed apparatus. Because the claim is drawn to a product, that is, an apparatus, recitation of too many intended usages and steps of its use renders the claim confusing.
For example, element (g) recites the phrase, “wherein the current passes through the pore upon application of a voltage between the top electrode and bottom electrode”, which does not materially (i.e., physically) alter the claimed apparatus. As well, step (i) recites the phrase, “due to said lateral flow, the sample will flow over the PNA conjugated beads so that said target RNA/DNA in the sample will hybridize with the PNA probe on the beads”. None of these phrases places any physical limitations to the apparatus and if they do, it is completely unclear what they are.
Claim 5 is redundant to its parent claim (claim 1) as the limitations have been incorporated into claim 1, but as stated above, this claim has been assumed to be canceled.
Claims 2-4 and 6 are indefinite by way of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The rejection of claims 5 and 12 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koo et al. (Lab on a Chip, July 2018, vol. 18, no. 15, pages 2291-2299) in view of Lafleur et al. (Lab on a Chip, 2016, vol. 16, pages 3777-3787), made in the Office Action mailed on January 23, 2026 is withdrawn in view of the Amendment received on June 5, 2026, canceling the rejected claims.
The rejection of claims 1-4, 6, and 8-10 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koo et al. (Lab on a Chip, July 2018, vol. 18, no. 15, pages 2291-2299) in view of Lafleur et al. (Lab on a Chip, 2016, vol. 16, pages 3777-3787) made in the Office Action mailed on January 23, 2026 is withdrawn in view of the arguments presented in the Amendment received on June 5, 2026.
Conclusion
Claims are free of prior art.
Claims 1-4 and 6 are rejected. Claims 8-12 and 16-20 are allowable.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Inquiries
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Young J. Kim whose telephone number is (571) 272-0785. The Examiner can best be reached from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m (M-F). The Examiner can also be reached via e-mail to Young.Kim@uspto.gov. However, the office cannot guarantee security through the e-mail system nor should official papers be transmitted through this route.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Gary Benzion, can be reached at (571) 272-0782.
Papers related to this application may be submitted to Art Unit 1681 by facsimile transmission. The faxing of such papers must conform with the notice published in the Official Gazette, 1156 OG 61 (November 16, 1993) and 1157 OG 94 (December 28, 1993) (see 37 CFR 1.6(d)). NOTE: If applicant does submit a paper by FAX, the original copy should be retained by applicant or applicant’s representative. NO DUPLICATE COPIES SHOULD BE SUBMITTED, so as to avoid the processing of duplicate papers in the Office. All official documents must be sent to the Official Tech Center Fax number: (571) 273-8300. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application should be directed to the Group receptionist whose telephone number is (571) 272-1600.
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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/YOUNG J KIM/Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1637 August 11, 2026
/YJK/
Prosecution Insights