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 action is in response to the papers filed July 21, 2026.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s reply filed 07/21/2026 to the Requirement for Restriction/Election mailed 03/19/2026 is acknowledged.
Applicant elected without traverse:
Group 1, drawn to a method of producing cultured adipose tissue;
wherein the culturing process is performed on a 2D substrate forming at least a portion of a conveyor and/or continuously in an assembly line process;
muscle-derived stem cell, as the adipogenic precursor cell; and
alginate, as the aggregation agent.
Claims 2-3, 6, 21, 24, 34, 36-38 and 40 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 07/21/2026.
Claim Listing
The instant claim listing was filed on 08/28/2024.
Claims 4-5, 7-9, 12-13, 15, 17, 19, 22-23, 25-31, 35, 39, 41-45 have been cancelled.
Claims 1-3, 6, 10-11, 14, 16, 18, 20-21, 24, 32-34, 36-38, 40, and 46 are pending.
Claims 2-3, 6, 21, 24, 34, 36-38 and 40 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention.
Claims 1, 10-11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 32-33 and 46 are under examination.
Priority
The instant application 18294033 was filed on 01/31/2024. This application is a national stage of international application PCT/US22/74641 filed 08/05/2022, claiming priority based on U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/203,980 filed 08/05/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/23/2024 has been considered.
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, or by applicant in an information disclosure statement (IDS), they have not been considered.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 11 includes the typographical error in “the 2D substrate forms at least a portion of a conveyor belt and/or is performed continuously in an assembly line process.” The recitation should be “the 2D substrate forms at least a portion of a conveyor belt, and/or growing the adipogenic precursor cells and/or differentiating the adipogenic precursor cells is/are performed continuously in an assembly line process.”
Appropriate action is required.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 10-11, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2020/123876 A1 to Elfenbein et al.
Regarding claim 1, Elfenbein discloses systems and methods for producing cultured food products. See, Abstract. The method comprises the claimed steps of growing adipogenic precursor cells in a first culture media, differentiating the adipogenic precursor cells to adipose cells in a second culture media, harvesting the adipose cells, and aggregating the harvested adipose cells. See, e.g., par. 9-20, and fig. 1-2.
Regarding claim 10, Elfenbein discloses the cell culturing is performed on a 2D substrate. See, e.g., par. 11, 156.
Regarding claim 11, Elfenbein discloses the 2D substrate forms at least a portion of a conveyor belt and/or is performed continuously in an assembly line process. See, e.g., par. 216-218, 244, 297-298, and fig. 30-31.
Regarding claim 14, Elfenbein discloses the adipogenic precursor cells include pre-adipocytes, embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent cells, multipotent adult stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells. See, e.g., par. 11-12, 271. The process includes adding myocytes to the first and/or second culture media. See, e.g., par. 12, 20, and fig. 2.
Regarding claim 16, Elfenbein discloses the adipose cells are mixed with a hydrogel or binder in a 3D mold. See, e.g., par. 47, 216-218, 239.
Regarding claim 18, Elfenbein discloses the adipose cells are mixed with alginate. See, e.g., par. 5, 167, 169, 208, 226, 244, 313, 338.
Regarding claim 20, Elfenbein discloses crosslinking the scaffold/mold of the adipose cells. See, e.g., par. 213, 390.
Regarding claim 46, Elfenbein discloses the cultured adipose cells have high lipid content and no vasculature. The cultured adipose cells are not described as being produced with vascularization or perfusion. See, e.g., par. 40.
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.
Claim 32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2020/123876 A1 to Elfenbein et al., as applied to claims 1, 10-11, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 46 above; in further view of Taormina et al. (2020) “Branched-chain fatty acids—An underexplored class of dairy-derived fatty acids” Nutrients, 12(9), 2875, 16 pages.
Regarding claim 32, Elfenbein discloses supplementing the cultured adipose cells with fatty acids. See, e.g., par. 11, 23, 252. Elfenbein does not disclose the fatty acids are methylated branched fatty acids.
Taormina is relevant prior art for teaching branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs) possess pro-health properties supporting health maintenance and disease prevention, including protection against inflammation, cancers and metabolic disorders. See, e.g., Abstract, and fig. 1.
Therefore, prior to the effective filing date of the instantly claimed invention, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Elfenbein by supplementing the cultured adipose cells with methylated branched fatty acids, in view of Taormina, with a reasonable expectation of success because Elfenbein teaches supplementing the cultured adipose cells with fatty acids, and branched-chain fatty acids possess pro-health properties supporting health maintenance and disease prevention, including protection against inflammation, cancers and metabolic disorders.
Claim 33 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2020/123876 A1 to Elfenbein et al., as applied to claims 1, 10-11, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 46 above; in further view of Lai et al. (2006) “Generation of cloned transgenic pigs rich in omega-3 fatty acids” Nature biotechnology, 24(4), 435-436.
Regarding claim 33, Elfenbein teaches supplementing the cultured adipose cells with omega-3 fatty acid. See, e.g., par. 11-12. Elfenbein does not disclose the adipose cells express omega 3 desaturases.
Lai is relevant prior art for teaching meat products are generally low in omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids, which are beneficial to human health. To overcome this problem, Lai cloned transgenic pigs to recombinantly express a fat-1 gene encoding a n-3 fatty acid desaturase, resulting in porcine tissue containing significantly enhanced n-3 fatty acid content. See, e.g., Abstract, and Table 1.
Therefore, prior to the effective filing date of the instantly claimed invention, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Elfenbein such that the adipose cells express omega 3 desaturases, in view of Lai, with a reasonable expectation of success because Elfenbein teaches the cultured adipose cells should contain omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid, and recombinant expression of omega 3 (n-3) desaturases has been shown to significantly enhance omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid content in meat products, which is beneficial to human health.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES J GRABER whose telephone number is (571)270-3988. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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/JAMES JOSEPH GRABER/Examiner, Art Unit 1631
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