Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/279,470

GENETIC STABILIZER AND GROWTH SELECTOR FOR GENETIC TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHLOROPLAST GENOME OF MICROALGAE

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Aug 30, 2023
Priority
Feb 01, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTIB2021050785
Examiner
ZHENG, LI
Art Unit
1662
Tech Center
1600 — Biotechnology & Organic Chemistry
Assignee
Luca Dall'Osto
OA Round
2 (Final)
84%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 84% — above average
84%
Career Allowance Rate
1061 granted / 1268 resolved
+23.7% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+13.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
1295
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.3%
-39.7% vs TC avg
§103
23.3%
-16.7% vs TC avg
§102
22.5%
-17.5% vs TC avg
§112
42.0%
+2.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1268 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 1. Claims 1-19 are pending. 2. Applicant's amendments to claims 12, 16-18 in the reply filed on 3/27/2026 are acknowledged. Claims 1-11 and 15-19 are withdrawn for being drawn to non-elected inventions. Claims 12-14 are examined on the merits. 3. The rejections and objections not recited in this action are withdrawn. Claim Objection 4. Claim 12 is objected to for missing “and” between part iv) and v) as well as between lines 14-15. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. 5. Claim(s) 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cutolo et al. (Plants 9:473 (Year: 2020)) further in view of Maiti et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0319094). Instant claims are drawn to a method for use of a chimeric construct as genetic stabilizer and growth selector or the expression of recombination protein in microalgae cultivations comprises introducing the construct to the microalgae cultivation, wherein the construct comprising i) restriction site at 3’ and 5’ site; ii) the nucleotide sequence of a transgene encoding for a protein of interest; iii) a linker; iv) a transit peptide; and a ptxD nucleotide sequence encoding WM88 comprising substitution glu with ala at position 175 and substitution ala with arg at position 176 and optimization of each codon according to the AT-rich codon bias of the chloroplast genome of microalgae. Cutolo et al. teach transformation of the Chloroplast genome of Chlamydomonas. reinhardtii using a construct comprising i) restriction site at 3’ and 5’ site; ii) the nucleotide sequence of a transgene encoding for a protein of interest; iii) a linker; and iv) a ptxD nucleotide sequence encoding WM88 comprising substitution glu with ala at position 175 and substitution ala with arg at position 176 and optimization of each codon according to the AT-rich codon bias of the chloroplast genome of microalgae (page 11, 2nd paragraph). Cutolo et al. further teach aad1 under the promoter of atpA which is considered as a protein of interenst being enzymatic catalyst (Figure 1). Cutolo et al.do not teach transit peptide. Maiti et al. teach a construct for plastid transformation comprising a fusion protein comprising a chloroplast transit peptide (claims 1 and 8). It would have been obvious for skilled in the art to further add a chloroplast transit peptide to the ptxD as taught by Maiti et al. resulted in instant invention with expectation for success given that ptxD construct is intent to be used for chloroplast transformation. Conclusion No claim is allowed. 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LI ZHENG whose telephone number is (571)272-8031. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday (9-5). 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, SHUBO (JOE) ZHOU can be reached on 571-272-0724. 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. /LI ZHENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1662
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 30, 2023
Application Filed
Sep 30, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Mar 27, 2026
Response Filed
Apr 29, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
84%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+13.3%)
2y 6m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1268 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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