DETAILED 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 .
The Amendments and Remarks filed 6/5/26 in response to the Office Action of 2/5/26 are acknowledged and have been entered.
Claims 21-22 have been added by Applicant.
Claims 1, 3-12, and 14-22 are pending.
Claims 1, 7, 8, and 12 have been amended by Applicant.
Claims 1, 3-12, and 14-22 are currently under examination.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The following Office Action contains NEW GROUNDS of rejections Necessitated by Amendments.
Rejections Withdrawn
All previous rejections are withdrawn.
New Rejections Necessitated by Amendments
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claim(s) 1, 4-6, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by El-Gebali et al (Nucleic Acids Research, 2019, 47: D427-D432; 3/20/24 IDS).
As evidenced by [0149] of the instant specification, the Pfam database of El-Gebali et al teaches the proteins of instant Figure 14 – including instant SEQ ID NOs: 27 and 30 (each of which has a charged Glutamic acid (E) at a residue corresponding to L34 of instant SEQ ID NO:4). Instant SEQ ID NOs: 27 and 30 are equivalent to allosteric cell attachment proteins stabilized in an ‘inactive’ conformation encompassed by the claims due to a charged amino acid at a residue corresponding to L34 of instant SEQ ID NO:4 (as evidenced by instant [0140], in particular).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 1, 4-6, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to judicial exception(s) (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, and/or an abstract idea) without significantly more. The rationale for this determination is explained below:
Claims 1, 4-6, and 21 are directed to a natural phenomenon because the claims recite natural phenomenon (“Step 2A prong one”) and the judicial exception(s) is/are not integrated into a practical application (“Step 2A prong two”). The “natural phenomenon” is: a protein comprising an allosteric cell attachment protein in an ‘active’ or ‘inactive’ conformation comprising instant SEQ ID NO:27 or instant SEQ ID NO:30 with a charged amino acid at a residue corresponding to L34 of instant SEQ ID NO:4. As evidenced by Figure 14, instant SEQ ID NO:27 and instant SEQ ID NO:30 (sequences 24 and 27 of the figure) are structural homologues retrieved from the Pfam database and both comprise a charged Glutamic acid (E) at a residue corresponding to L34 of instant SEQ ID NO:4. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception(s). A claim that focuses on judicial exception(s) can be shown to recite something “significantly more” than the judicial exception(s) by reciting a meaningful limitation beyond the judicial exceptions. However, in the instant case, claimed proteins are not markedly different than naturally occurring protein comprising instant SEQ ID NO:27 and instant SEQ ID NO:30 (“Step 2B”).
Claim Objections
Claims 3, 7-11, and 22 are objected to for being dependent upon rejected claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12 and 14-20 are allowed.
Interview Request
In response to Applicant's request for an interview in the Reply of 6/5/26 to address amended claims, Applicant is welcome to telephone the Examiner upon receipt of this Office Action. An interview was not initiated by the Examiner after filing of the Reply of 6/5/26 and before issuance of the current Office Action because the current Office Action provides a clear record of new issues that Applicant may want to address in an interview.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEAN E AEDER whose telephone number is (571)272-8787. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-6pm ET.
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, Samira Jean-Louis can be reached at (571)270-3503. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SEAN E AEDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1642
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