Appeal 2006-3259
Application 09/785,188
Schmidt et al., "Principles of Hydrolysis and Condensation Reaction of
Alkoxysilanes," Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 63 (1984), pp. 1-11.
Claims 26, 28, 29, and 31-36 are rejected over Uo and Hino. Claims
15-23, 25, and 37-39 are rejected over Uo, Hino, Kline and Rao. Claim 24
is rejected over Uo, Hino, Kline, Rao, and Schmidt. Examiner’s Answer
(“Answer”) 4, 7 & 8.
Appellants argue claims 26 and 29 together and claims 28 and 15
separately. The remaining claims are not separately argued. See Substitute
Brief on Appeal (“Br.”) 4. Thus, we consider representative claims 26, 28,
15, and 24:
Claim 26. A method, comprising:
mixing a vegetative cell into a sol;
mixing a sufficient amount of a dispersant into said sol to cause
macropores in a gel formed by said sol; and
gelling said sol to form said gel.
Claim 28. A gel, comprising:
a macroporous solid network formed by the condensation of hydroxy
metallates from a sol solution; and
a bacterial cell added to the sol solution and thereby immobilized
within said solid network,
wherein said sol solution is compatible with said bacterial cell.
Claim 15. A sol, comprising:
P moles of a hydroxy metallate;
W moles of water;
a sufficient amount of a dispersant to cause macropores in a gel
formed by said sol; and
a biological material,
wherein a ratio of W:P is greater than 25:1.
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