Detailed Office 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 .
Status of the Claims
Acknowledgement is hereby made of receipt and entry of the communication filed 29 December, 2025. Claims 1 and 5-9 are pending in the instant application.
35 U.S.C. § 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.
The previous rejection of claims 1-4 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Li et al. (2021), is hereby withdrawn in response to Applicant’s amendment and arguments.
35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
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.
Claims 1 and 5-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention. Two separate requirements are set forth under this statute: (1) the claims must set forth the subject matter that applicants regard as their invention; and (2) the claims must particularly point out and distinctly define the metes and bounds of the subject matter that will be protected by the patent grant.
Concerning claim 1, step 2) is confusing because it recites an active step (e.g., reacting the sensor chip with G4-NH2 PBS) but also provides a narrative step (e.g., this was to allow the G4-NH2 molecules to be immobilized). Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 5 and 6 are vague and indefinite for reciting the phrases “i.e., RCA primers; RCA padlock probes; and ss DNA conjugated nanoparticles, i.e., ssDNA-NPs probes” (claim 5) and “i.e., NPs comprise at least one of gold NPs…” (claim 6). The phrase “i.e.” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See M.P.E.P. § 2173.05(d). Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 8 references “RCA primers” but only recites a single sequence identifier. Thus, it is not readily manifest if the claims are directed toward a primer pair with two sequence identifiers or just one member of a primer pair. Appropriate clarification is required.
Claim 9 references “RCA padlock probes” but only recites a single sequence identifier. Thus, it is not readily manifest if the claims are directed toward multiple padlock probes with multiple sequence identifiers or just a single padlock probe. Appropriate clarification is required.
Suggested Allowable Claim Language
Amendment of the claim language to reflect the specific examples provided in the disclosure would be acceptable (e.g., Claim 1. A modified biosensor chip that comprises a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensor chip body, wherein the detection surface of the LSPR sensor chip body has been modified and comprises a template layer with multiple ligand binding sites, wherein the template layer is prepared using the following steps:
1) Reacting the chip surface which comprises glass areas and gold nanoislands with G3.5-COOH PAMAM dendrimers using an immobilization solution to immobilize G3.5-COOH on the glass surface thereby converting the carboxyl surface functional groups on both the glass areas and gold nanoislands to NHS esters;
2) Reacting the chip surface from step 1) with G4-NH2 PAMAM dendrimers using G4-NH2 in PBS thereby allowing the G4-NH2 molecules to become immobilized on both the immobilized G3.5-COOH molecules and gold nanoislands, thereby providing multi-handled templates to provide multiple binding sites;
3) Conjugating NH2 SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) aptamers comprising SEQ ID NO.: 1 to the surface immobilized G4-NH2 templates of step 2) using an aptamer-cross-linking solution;
wherein said surface modified sensor chip is capable of binding to the SARS-CoV-2 RBD...), or something similar thereto as supported by the specification. Applicant’s representative is invited to contact the Examiner to discuss suggested allowable claim language.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Jeffrey S. Parkin, Ph.D., whose telephone number is (571) 272-0908. The Examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. A message may be left on the Examiner's voice mail service. 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 are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Michael Allen, Ph.D., can be reached at (571) 270-3497. Direct general status inquiries to the Technology Center 1600 receptionist at (571) 272-1600.
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Respectfully,
/JEFFREY S PARKIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1671 25 March, 2026